The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1915-02-11

Punishment in this state have beer
so satisfactory, that no effort has
been made to return to the old meth !,
cd of punishment"
If the experiences of the states that
have not now the death penalty is
such, then can one keep from feeling
that Capital Punishment is not nee
essary as deterrent to crime.
The experiences that life impris-
onment is as great deterrent as Is
needed for the protection Of Society.
This being the case the death penalty
is unnecessary and is therefore legal
lied murder if practised.
Some hold up England as an exam
pie, without really Knowing . son
many of the fact sin the case. Tea
pie there are forced to respect The
law. Not only the law against hr-
der but all laws. Frederick l.. Hoif-
man, the insurance statistical expert
on homicides committed in the l. ;.
A. says, 1.-The problem of murder IN
its final analysis is to a considerable
extent I question Of the effective reg
ulation of the sale and posse ssion OF
drugs"
That answers the question of the
cause of why so few homicides are
committed in England. There they
do not rtrmit nearly every Tom, Dick
and Hairy to go striking around with
six-shooter in his pocket. An ofii-
Ger of the law hasn't even that priv
ilege. asked a policeman in Londo
why they didn't carry "billies" there
like they do in the United States; ne
said, I'VE are not permitted to carry
them" l said, you carry pistol do
you not" and the man locked at me
in establishment. He said, mo, We
carry no weajon of any kind"
When wep ractice Capital Punish
ment l believe we are retaining a
relic OF barbarism that has no place
| in this day of carity, enlightenment
and brotherly love.
Montague says, at is more barbar-
GUS to ILL live man than to roast
and eat dead one"
At the Hague in Holland while be-
| ing shown through an old prison and
shown the instruments of torture they
| used way back yonder, when they
| tried to be foar or five days in tor
| turing one to death, wondered which
they do now. hang or electrocute. and
In enauired What mode of Capital
Punihsment do you use now?" The
guide said, "Why, we do not put peo-
| Die to death now-we did that back
| in our barbarous times"
The innocent are sometimes put TO
death for a crime committed by an
other-only three weeks ago this
| Jan. 81. 1850 a man on his death bed
l in California confessed to crime for
l which another was hanged In Chica-
go seven years ago. The innocent
l man being hanged, the State now has
no way of taking back its awful mis-
take.
Two weeks ago a negro was pardon
| ed from a life sentence in this state
| after having served ten years, five
month sand three days for a crime
committed by another. / never saw
1 a happier looking face in my life than
/ saw when this poor negro, without
a cent in his pocket, came to my back
door to tell of his gratitude and his
thankf, lness in being restored to his
liberty.
Suppose they had hanged him Che
was sentenced to hang. The supreme
court Of this state approved of the
sentence and it was only through the
mercy Of Governor Frazier that his
sentence was commuted to life inn
prisonment) this state would then oc-
cupy the same position that Illinois
now holds, that of having hanged an
innocent man, with no way on earth
to un-hang him.
Surely, all fair mided people be-
lieye it is better that ninety-nine
guilty men should escape the gallows
and serve a life term than that one In
lnocent man should be hanged.
| Yours respectfully,
| DUKE C. BOWERS.