Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-08-26

it occurred after he had been tried
and sentenced
Condemns Third Degree.
This third degree method that is
practiced in the North and the East
and the West-less frequently, l am
glad to say, in the South-whether q
man be killed during its administra-
ton, or whether he be driven to COM
nit suicide, or whether he be tortured
sometimes into confessing crimes of
which he may be innocent is barbar-
ity in a sneaking form, under the
sanction of law, and those guilty of
practicing it evidence a spirit as
mean and contemplate as the malice
which animates the midnight assas-
sin.
Three years ago had the pleasure
of addressing this conference in
Richmond. My remarks were tele-
graphed throughout the nation, and
was heralded to the world as a chief
executive who advocated mob vio-
lence. l do not propose to go into
a discussion of that here; it is entire
ly beside the question. Suffice it for
me to say that in the South the lynch
ing of a man for the unmentionable
crime is a protection to our civiliza-
ton, while the practice of this third
degree violates the letter of our con-
stitution at it's most vital point and is
blow to the whole spirit of our in
stitutions. In the South an aroused
mob is an outraged community which
carries out the law, but brushes aside
with mighty force the laws techni-
calities and delays. There is no hypo-
critical sanctimonious violation of
fundamental rights under the cloak of
law by those sworn to uphold the law;
the deed is open, and civilization and
justice are vindicated. And when
mobs are no longer possible, liberty
will be dead.
The chief executive of State has
not more serious duty nor graver re-
sponsibility than the obligation i'm
posed upon him in dealing with pris-
joners-and by prisoners / mean to
include those in Jail awaiting trial
g. Guilty of Greater Crime
"A State or a nation that allows its
prisoners to suffer cruelties is guilty
of a greater crime than the prisoners
themselves have committed.
We have prisons and prison meth
, DDS in the United States to-day which
are a disgrace to any civilization.
When l assumed the office of Gov
ernor of South Carolina, l inaugurated
| in my State the parole system, and
granted hundreds of paroles. l was
as vigorously condemned on the one
hand and as heartily praised on the
OlneT. lOI nearly every decision
reached upon each individual case, as
any man who has ever been in pub
| lie life in the history of this country.
cared not for the condemnation nor
the praise. The parole system which
inaugurated was entirely successt ul.
out of the hundred of paroles granted,
very few failed to lead good lives.
Il believe more firmly to-day than
ever before in the parole system as
the most advanced step that has ever
been taken in prison reform.
Il believe that the whipping Of pris
oners should be forbidden EXCEPT in
cases Of wilful disobedience of rules
or acts of insubordination, and that
then the whipping should be admins
tered only in the presence of disinter-
ested citizens of good repute who are
not connected in any way, directly OF
indirectly, with the institution. The
people of the nation would be horri-
fled If they knew of the fearful bru-
tality practiced in our prisons-the
merciless whippings. the electric shocks
and other forms of shocking cruelty
! In the majority of cases the fam
! lily of a prisoner suffers more than
the prisoner himself 1t seems to me
that much of this suffering could be
irelieved by paying to the dependent
family of a prisoner q small compen-
sation for the prisoners labor"