South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-07-31
CHARLES BECKER AND THE
CRIME FOR WHICH TIE
PUBLIC MIND REALLY
CONDEMNS HIM

Lieut.. Charles Becker of New York,
and Leo NJ. Frank Of Georgia? The
difference between eIectrocutiOn and
hanging is not responsible for it. Both
men have protested their innocence.
Both were convicted on evidence more
or less circumstantial Furthermore.
the victim Of Becker's chicanery was
a crook, while the victim Of Frank
was a girl, whom ne should have been
protecting, II he had anything 10 do
with her. rather than to have slain
her. Can you explain? To our mind
the answer Is easy.
Becker was a public official who
utilized his office for private gain. The
evidence adduced at his trial went 10
prove him crooked as a public official
could conveniently become. and of "a
caliber that would allow nothing-not
even murder.-to stand in the way of
ACCOMPLISHING his nefariOus ends.
placed in office. at least ostensibly, 20
enforce the law, he seems TO have
enforced il 9 as revenge for those
who would rather be punished than to
bribe. and there is enough Of that sort
of thing going on all over the country
that the masses Of mankind have no
conscientious scrupies against the law
making the best possible example of
him. II example it may be termed.
Besides Becker was a staunch ad-
vocate Of capital punishment. and.
fifteen years ago allowed himself to
be strapped in the same chair where
he met his doom Friday, as q joke.
This time. however. it was no joke
Maybe he advocated capital punish
ment because he thought the greater
the horror Of legal punishment, the
easier it would be for him TO scare
someone into paying him ~ 2lterna-
tive tribute 1t is ony appropriate
that men who have gone their limit
should be taken care of III their own
chosen way. Men who advocate cap
ital punishment for others, most GER
tainly ought to take their own medi-
cine. if subjected to it by the same
rules that Would subject those others,
and it would seem that. if as brave as
Becker tried 20 appear, they should
take it without a murmur.
OF course, every man, even a DOOM
ed man, has a right to change his
mind as long as he has one, but Becker
never pretended TO change his mind
in such a matter, except as applied to
himself. He would never have wor-
ried. even knowing the facts as well
as he knew them in his own case, or
pretended no know them, X they were
applicable to some one else. and no
one knows how many innocent beings
ne may have sent TO the electric cha.r,
perhaps for no other purpose thaa 10
get them out of his way His TRADE
against Gov. Whitman, who was dis
trict attorney at the time of the
Becker trial. was nothing more nor
less. as it appears 20 us, than last
great big bluff-a sort of application
OF third degree" methods in which
the ex-Heutenant was an adept,-an-
ticipating that the governor, whether
through political fear or manlike sym
patty for a dying man. might at the
last moment be moved to save him.
And so, the same people who con-
tended for a communication of sentence
for Leo NJ. Frank. doubling the efficacy
OF capital punishment in all cases, and
the Justice Of il in his case in partic-
ular. will sit complacently by and
give the Becker case at least a semi
approval. 1t seems that Frank S
greatest crime, aside from the murder
of Mary Phagan. if he murdered her
at all, is that he is a Jew. Becker
was a traitor 20 the public which ne
had been engaged 10 serve. and from
ali the evidence adduced at the trial.
had crime enough on his hands 10 con-
denim him TO perdition, even had Her
man Rosenthal still lived. and con-
tinued 10 pay him as "czar Of the ten
derIoin." his brides If police and other
public officials throughout the land but
have the wit 10 read a lesson from the
public attitude toward the Becker
electrocution. they will see in il a new
type OF public opinion passing toward
the lnSlSienCe lnal tIoOheOntSS IN
public life is some day 10 be even less
tolerated than crookedness in indi-
vidual life.
Grover Cleveland's epigrammatic
saying that public officer is a public
trust" not a private snap" which
latter was the long established concept
is beginning 10 soak in. SO far as the
public mind Is concerned, Charles
Becker was electrocuted as a traitor
20 the trust that "a people had reposed
in him. with the murder of Herman
Rosenthal as quite a secondary issue
Organized society is getting tired OF
being perpetually tool for grafters
10 play with
Exit, Becker. And may the lesson
10 be drawn from the incident exert
its full force.
SOUTH - THE WINNER