New-York tribune., 1922-12-17
Fierce Discussion IL Waged
Over Whether the State
Should Exact Extreme
Penalty Despite Guilt
Death Statute Assailed
One Slayer Laid Plot to K'll
Husband. Other Slew Her
Rival, Third Her Baby
BY Arthur S. Draper
Epse,ol cebis 10 re Trb-as
.'''1' LONDON.

N0t tne loulftsne' W a''r'" 49,
the Thompsen murder trial rivsted the
attention OF Bhtoni over the week
end. The day the conference ad-
journsd the jury convicted the twenty
slEht-ysaT.old woman and her sdmlrer
Of twenty Of numbering her husband.
Both we're sentenced TO death.
Tn. following day the same Judge
passed death sentences on two other
women--one for stabblng the rival IN
her husbands affections and the other
unfortunate creature, whose husband
was out Of work and her first child
dead through mslnutrition for hurlins
her second infant into the Thames
River and trying 10 follow =.
No woman has been hanged IN Eng
land for fifteen years, and now there
10 fierce discussion over the cues
tion Of whether the state should enact
the extreme penalty. Incidentally, the
debate involves the sbolishment Of
capital punishment TO either sex. There
are no hangings either In Italy or
Portugal.
Psnalty Called Severe
In perhaps no other country, eer-
tslnly not In America, would q jury
have rstarned a verdict Of murder In
the case Of Edith Thompson and Fred
Byvatsrs. Il is quite probable that
they wsuld have been freed in France
and surely the woman would have es-
eaped with a verdict Of manslaughtsr
IN the United States, As the evidence
showed that she took no part In the
actual s,abbing Of her husband By the
youth she had vAmped. Nevertheless.
hers vas the master mind, and II the
woman was ftprieyed IL would be
miscarriage Of justice to execute the
youth.
The real point Is that England i' in
ttrestsd in nothing 50 much as In the
fate Of these two criminals. The woman
who drowned her child In sheer des-
psratlon surely will escape the gall
lows, as will the one who stabbed an
other woman who had stolen away the
formers husband.
All sorts Of writers have been ana
lyting the personalities Of Mrs. Thomp-
son and Bywsters. Rebseea West, the
brilliant critic, has pictured the wife
as anything but abnormal, describing
her as a creature east up By modern
suburban society In the twentieth cen
tury, while Dame Nellie Mslba has
written a column showing that the
vensn's counterpart Is as old as his
tory.
John Drinkvatsr used the verdict a.
a fresh basis for an attack on capital
punishment.
my own instincts are that | have
no clear Justification for taking any
body's lifs," says Drinkwater. I'm
ease Of war ws get an admirable stand
ard Of judgment. The individual then
has got to subject his opinion to COM
munal decisions and must vhive for
the common good any conviction that
life must not be taken. In case Of
crime, when the communal life is not
N erei. We should not do as q COM
munity what none OF Us would do as
individuals.
Real Test Of Execution
The test eught to bsi Are We will
ink 10 carry out the execution our
selyesi When. a. a society, ve execute
man We are responsible as individ-
ua's for the act and until we say that
as individuals we are willing 10 DO the
thing ourselves and feel justified In
doing Il we have not reached the be-
ginning Of Logical viewpoint,
&c. X. Chesterton has suggested that
ihe executions should be public. 50 that
we can at least see what We are DO
ing That Is not a complete argument,
but there arc few o'us who would care
70 witness cur hAndiwork. Society Is
society and We are part Of one an
other
"Thsn there is the religious aspect.
Are We . Christian state or aren't vel
DO re believe In after llfe and Godl
Theoretically We do. and yet We shlrk
he responsibility when We send a man
10 the kallows. Shooting won't do him
any good Abraham Lincoln once said
Of young soldier sentenced to be shot.
Capital punishment Is not solving any
- a