The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1915-08-24
LYNCHING PROTECTS
CIVILIZATION
Declared Former Gov. Cole Blease Of
South Carolina in Addressing
Governors Conference
in Boston,

Boston, Aug. 24.--Former Gov. Col'
Blease of South Carolina in an address
delivered here to-day before the govern
ors' conference, on "The Duty and Re.
sponsibility of Chief Executives in Deal
ing with Prisoners" declared that the
lynching of men in the South for certain
crimes is a protection to civilization. He
condemned the third degree" in dealing
with prisoners and expressed the opinion
that it was worse in some respects than
lynching.
"The money we spend for courts and
prisons is very i'll laid out" said Gov.
Blease. He continued in part: 1--WE make
by distrust the thief the burglar and in
cendiary, and by our court and jail we
keep him so. An acceptance of the SEN
timent Of love throughout Christendom
for a season would bring the felon and
the outcast to our side in tears, with the
devotion OF his faculties to our service.
within the past few weeks we read in
the newspapers of a man who had made
an attempt upon the life of another be-
ing piled with questions until he was too
weak to talk, then being walked up and
down the corridors OF his prison to revive
him, then piled with questions again, and
subjected to God alone knows what else
in the administration of the third de-
gree Later this prisoner was found on
the floor of his cell with his skull crushed
| in, and it was stated that he had climbed
to the top of his cell door and jumped to
the floor, killing himself. Whether he
was murdered or whether he really COM
mitted suicide ] do not know; but this / |
do know, that the suicide of any man
would hardly be unnatural under such
circumstances, and that the treatment |
accorded him, before conviction, would |
have been disgrace to our civilization |
even had it occurred after he had been |
tried and sentenced
"This third degree method that is
practiced in the North and the East and
the West-less frequently, | am glad to
say, in the South--whether man be
killed during its administration, or
whether he be driven to commit suicide,
or whether he be tortured sometimes into
confessing crimes of which he may be in
nocent, is barbarity in a sneaking form,
under the sanction of law, and those
guilty of praeticing it evidence a spirit
as mean and contemplate as the malice
which animates the midnight assassin.
"Three years ago had the pleasure Of |,
addressing this conference in Richmond
My remarks were telegraphed throughout
the nation and | was heralded TO the
world as a chief executive who advocated
mob violence. | do not propose TO go
into discussion of that here; il is en- ,
tirely beside the question. Suffice it for !,
me to say that in the South me lynching
OF a man for the unmentionable crime is .
a protection t, our civilization, while the I;
practice of this third degree violates the /;
letter of our constitution at its most vi
tai point and is a blow to the whole spirit :
Of our institutions. In the South an
aroused mob is an outraged community
which carries out the law, but brushes
aside with mighty force the laws tech
and delays. There Is no hypo
,ritical, sanctimonious violation of funda.
mental rights under the cloak OF law by
those sworn to uphold the law; the deed
i open, and civilization and Justice are
indicated. And when mobs are no long.
y possible, liberty win be dead.
The chief executive of a state has not Z
more serious duty nor grayer respon
Utility than the obligation imposed upon
him in dealing with prisoners-and by 4
prisoners / mean to include those in jail \
waiting trial. 1
"A state or a nation that allows its
prisoners TO suffer cruelties is guilty Of
,reater crime than the prisoners them
elves have committed.
ave have prisons and prison methods
n the United States to-day which are
isgrace TO any civilization.
"When assumed the Office of governor
{ South Carolina, inaugurated in my
tate the parole system, and granted hun
reds of paroles. ] was as vigorously
on the one hand and as heart
v praised on the other for nearly every
ecision reached upon each individual
ase as any man who has ever been in
ublic life in the history Of this country
cared not for the condemnation or the
raise. The parole system which ! in
ugurated was entirely successful Out
! the hundreds Of paroles granted, very
w failed TO lead good lives.
u believe more firmly to-day than ever
nfore IN the parole system as the most
ivanced step that has ever been taken
prison reform.
= believe that tho whipping Of pris
lers should be forbidden except in cases
wilful disobedicnce Of rules or acts Of
subordination. and that then the whip.
ng should be administered only in the
essence Of disinterested citizens Of good
pute who are not connected in any way,
rectly OF indirectly. with the institu-
'n. The people Of the nation would be
rrified # they knew Of the fearful bru.
lily pracpced in our prisons-the mer-
ess whippings. the electric shocks and
her forms Of shocking cruelty.
In the majority Of cases t1e fsmily Of
prisoner suffers more than the prisoner
Hnself u seems 20 mo that much of
il suffering could be relieved by paying
the dependent family Of prisoner
al compensation for the prisoners Ia