Evening star., 1924-09-26
END OF GALLONS
IN j. s. FORESEEN
Clarence DarroW Sees More
Humane" VieW-PoIice
Deeply Concerned.
By Consolidated pra~c

BY Consolidated Press
| CHICAGO, September 26-The glib
| bet in America is going the way of
| the torture chamber and the debtors
! prison OF years past. largely as a re-
| suit of Chicago's recent experiences
eliminating in the reprieve to Ber-
nard Grant, 20-year-old slayer whose
| stay OF execution is accepted as the
| next thing to assurance that his
hanging. delayed seven times, will
| never occur.
Such is the opinion of Clarence
barrow, defender of Loeb and Leo
| pold, who interprets the extension OF
| temporary clemency to Grant by Gov
Small as indication of more humane
! attitude on the part of the public to-
ward slayers.
The demand Of a life for a life is
waning in this country" Attorney
Darrow said. People are becoming
more humane as years go by. Grant
viii not hang and the saving of his
life will act to bring clemency to
| others as the cry for hanging dies
out
Young Slayers Confident.
This view is also hopefully held by
the four boy and girl killers of Mrs.
Bessie Gaensslen, soon to come to
trial. They can't hang us now that
the others are getting off" is the re-
frafn of these youngsters. products
OF Chicago's alleys, as they conf
IDENTIFY await their future.
And in the background, likewise
| confident that hanging for young
people is thing of the past, is Rob-
ert Scott. sentenced to hang for kill
! ing Robert Maurer. a 19-year-oId
drug store clerk, who just before the
date for his execution was granted a
trial after being allowed to change
his plea Of guilty to one Of not guilty.
Ihen, OF course, there is Mrs Sa-
belle Nitti, the only woman ever SEN
fenced to hang in Cook County, who
has been granted new trial by the
Supreme Court after it found that she
| had been convicted of killing her hus-
band on insufficient evidence Her
final acquittal is now taken for
granted.
Police Deeply Concerned.
This new evidence of court leni-
ency, which has brought about the
Chicago record of killing a. day and
a hanging a year, is a matter of deep
concern to the police
They will see a new test Of the
changing court attitude when Anna
Valanis, II; Anthony Valanis, 18:
William Lydon, Is. and Lucille Mar
shall, lS, come to trial for the killing
of Mrs. Gaensslen, which they have
admitted. All the glib assurance in
the world is held by this remorseless
quartet.
They killed to get money which
they believed was due them from
pronts OF the unsavory business the
slain woman conducted. Now they
expect freedom from the gallows, and
even from serious punishment, be-
cause they a re lust kids"
Young Criminals Increasing.
There's where the trouble comes in.
Chief of Detectives Michael Hughes
points out The youngsters. he says,
| are the ones committing great
| share Of present-day serious crimes.
| Let them learn that they can get
! away with ii without serious punish
| ment and there is no telling where
| the crime wave will end.
| While the low valley district here.
with its murky atmosphere of slum
| sQualor. is producing younger and
younger killers. the court trend is to-
ward higher age limit for punish
ment- The outcome can only be an
incentive TO further crime. with law
enforcement made more difficult in
| the view of the police.
They look for a return to the use
| or the gallowS-a course back from
the trend that has carried half a
dozen States away from capital pun
ishment-as the sure cure for the
murder mania. The next Cook County
hanging is being watched for anx-
lously, to see if the period of Glenn
ency can be broken, or whether the
| opponents of capital punishment will
| further their cause still more to a
| point where the next Illinois legisla-
| ture can be approached with a plea
| for abolition of hanging.