Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-12-11
Ehrntttg Ulrat

encing one of those periodical cam
paigns in behalf of individuals SEN
fenced to pay the extreme penalty of
the law as recognized from the days
of the Tower of Babel and the office
of the State Board of Pardons is re-
celVing pleas for mercy for lads of
seventeen and eighteen convicted of
parrictde. The strenuous nature of
the eiforts calls to mind the fact that
every year for the last fifteen there
mas been some big case in which the
clemency placed within the control of
the State Board of Pardons by the
constitution has been sought by news
papers, committees. individuals and
even communities. The natural senti-
ment of people against capital punish-
nent and especially against sending to
death women or boys has been in
voked, adroitly at times. but ALWAYS F
with Vigor. The case of Kate Edwards. |
or Berks county, sentenced to death
ana refused communication and pardon
tlme and again. set q precedent in
fehnsylVania against capital punish
ment Tor women. Governors refused
TO TO sign her death warrant and the pub
nc dld not object. Ultimately she was
pardoned and passed into oblivion. So
have other women who stood in tbo
shauow OF the extreme penalty. The
present Board of Pardons has taken a
STAND against campaigns such as have
.r neeh launched in the last month for
10 lad DC oomihiutat1on of young men, mere
laus' whose cases have already been
GGonsluered and decided against them
Sew instances in the history of the
poaIu compare with the time and on
porlunlty given in the March-Penning-
bnara anu Digeso cases, in which the
ooaIu uechned to interfere Youth
control of stronger minds intoxica tion'
tt te.aruatlon, lack of early opportuni
eies; insanity, impulse of the moment
Sno,l SSnoriohlnent ent and other pleas have
tn peeI Hade by eminent counsel and vet
tne board declined to Interfere avcsnt
where 1t was shown that matters I,aS
arisen since the trial or where those
tninSS Which can not be considered
Withln the rules of evidence or soma
extraordinary condition was found. II
was Iof TINS purpose that the board
was constituted, as is to be found in
the memoirs of those who sat i'm the
constitutional convention Time and
again people OF counties have been
worked up by sentimental waves and
IN some cases they have come here
Win matter which gave a new phase,
but too often with only those things
which were threshed out at trials and
which when winnowed by the board
were found to be based upon the hone
of mercy.
successive State officials who have
SAT upon the State Board of Pardons
nave told me that it is the hardest
form of service for the Commonwealth
ana L know one man who used to
dread the coming of the third Wednes-
DAY of each month. the date of the
sittlng or the board. Another told me
that 1t was only sense of duty that
kept him from getting sick sometimes
When the board was scheduled to meet
me late Robert S. Murphy, Lieuten-
ant-GoVernor under Edwin S. Stuart
who' like John c. Bell, Attorney Cen
Tnh =
district attorney, once said that it re-
CURED all his brains and training to
keep the legal aspects of a case i'm
their proper place and all his sand to
avoid giving way to pleas for mercy in
many cases. Most of the men who
nave sat upon the board in the last
decade have been personally opposed
to capital punishment and the idea of
1t is positively repugnant to two men,
pers or the present board by their own
statements.
One of the odd things about cam
paigns for extension of clemency to
persons convicted of murder is that
they seldom lead to moves to abolish
capital punishment. OF all the recent
cases in which unusual efforts were
made to secure recommendations of
mercy 1 recall only one which led I'd
anything like an attempt to get the
Legislature to change the law. Cases
which have stirred up the whole state
brought expressions of regret or graft
fication, according to the way the case
went, and ended there. Bills for
abolition of capital punishment have
turned up in the Legislature and never
gotten out of committee. 1t took years
of energetic propaganda to get the
electrocution law passed, One session
a bill giving jliries the right to say
whether person should die or suffer
| life Imprisonment for murder attra ted
little or no comment and was vetoed
| Since the last General Assembly met
there have been some big cases SUBJ
mitted to the board. 1t will De in
| teresting to see what turns up in the
Legislature and how any propositions
are backed,
In another instance some printed
matter regarding blankets came to
friend and he brought it around I'd
show. In this envelope were the cata-
log of the blanket manufacturing firm
circular about a gas engine made in
the same town and a slip sheet with
boost for some kind of breakfast food
The card of a lumber association was
enclosed. Harrisburg may be the heart
of distribution, but 1t has something I'd
learn about cooperative mailing.
Clifford Pinchot, who speaks to-nigh
before the members of the Engineers
Society on the conservation measures
now before Congress, plans to pay
some visits to Harrisburg during the
coming legislative session. Mr.. Pincho1
has been carefully following up the
legislation proposed in this state rela1
tive to water power and forest con
servation and has been visiting some
of the districts.