Milford chronicle., 1920-12-17
HOPELECISLATURE CHANGES
GALL0WST0ELECTRICC CHAIR
PROMINENT WOMEN OF WHITE AND
C0L0RED RACES ARE OPPOSED TO
HANGING.

Change in the method of carrying
out the death sentence discussion OF
which arose following the hanging
two weeks ago of Lemuel Price, col
ored murderer. has caused many
voices to rise in favor of the electric
chair and the abolition of the gallows
Hope is expressed that the coming
Legislature will take this matter up.
The execution of Price, was declar-
ed to be a horrible spectacle, some
claiming that the negro's neck was
not broken and that he dangled strug-
Cling for many minutes until the rope
finally choked out life. Others claim
that his neck was broken and that
his execution was no different than
any other.
However, there are many people in
this State who are against hanging
absolutely and regardless of the cir
cumstances attending a particular
case.
Hanging is called most brutal, a
relic of the uncivilized past and has
no place in the present day. Among
those chosen for expressions of opin-
ion were two women, both representa-
tive of their class, and both prominent
in civic and club affairs in Whining
ton. One was Miss Jeanette Eckman,
secretary of the State Republican Wo-
mems Committee, and Mrs. Alice Dun
bar-Nelson, a leader among the activ-
tiles of colored women here. and the
wife of the editor of The Advocate.
Miss Eckman said that she is and
always was against capital punish
ment. Death, if it must be inflicted,
Miss Eckman said, should be done as
swiftly as possible and for this pur-
pose she would like to see the electric
chair substituted for the time-worn
and brutal gallows.
Il never have been in favor of capi-
tai punishment" said Miss Eckman.
Il have considerable doubt about the
right of the State to take life regard
less of the crime committed by the in
dividual. l believe life Imprisonment
would serve the ends of justice just
as well. Hanging, however, should be
abolished. l really cannot see how
anybody can be in favor of continuing
this brutal form of execution which is
a relic of period long past. By all
means, let us do away with the gall
lows and if death must be inflicted, it
should be done as swiftly as possible
and with the electric chair"
Miss Eckman said that if society
had provided right conditions for hui
manity, execution would not be nee
essary at all. These conditions. how
ever, not existing. society must bear
the responsibility, she said.
Hanging as a form of capital pun
ishment is obsolete, inhuman," said
Mrs. Nelson. There can be no brief
made for it in an enlightened age. The
elimination of capital punishment
from the statute books of the State
is the ideal towards which the State
should strive, but if it be not feasible
at this particular time, Delaware, by
all means, should place herself in the
van with her sister states and exc
cute her criminals by electrocution.
We are supposed to be advanced from
the days when criminals were tortur-
ed before they were killed. We shud-
der and become incensed with rage at
the atrocities inflicted upon the Ar
menians by the Turks, and the stor-
les of the brutalities of the Germans
and Cossacks in Belgium and Poland,
but the cold-blooded tortue of hap
less criminal, who had a right to ex-
pect swift and painless death, is as
bad, for there is not even che excuse
of the lust of rage, nor the heat of pas
sion.
1.-THE law assumes that the execu-
tion of the murderer is for the pur-
pose of protecting society. not only |
from further depredations by that |
but from a possible imita- |
ton of his crime by others. But too |
often modern society swings back to |
the Old Testament injunction, "an eye |
for an eye, and a tooth for a TOOTH"
and the new dispensation is forgotten. I
In executing a murderer, and only /
murderers should be put to death, if |
the death penalty is inflicted, the pro-
lection of society is not subserved by
gruesome exhibitions. Spectators are
malefactors in prison, hear
ing of the occurrence become sullen,
decent persons are shocked and dis
gusted, callousness is the result. No
lne knows for a certainty whether
is more painless than
for no one has returned to
ell, but the surface indications are
hat it is more humane, and more apt
o be instantaneous. Therefore, since
he idea is to put a criminal out of
he world as quickly as possible, let
Is do it expeditiously, and as far as /,
We know, humanely. 1t were better
lot to kill at all, but if it must be
lone, let us try to treat human beings
IS kindly as we do animals, and kill
quickly and painlessly."