Year: 1876




Again the majesty of the law has been vim
dicatcd, in spite of the extraordinary and per-
sstent efforts to stay the hand OF the eXecu-
TONER The attempts to procure a communication
of the sentence of ,Dolan may rebound to the
professional reputation Of his attorney, but 1t
il worth while to consider that they were
begun and continued upon an assumption OF
doubt IN which no sensible person cognizant
of the testimony shared There were those
of course, who said with little or no reflection
that they believed the man to he innocent
Some of the ladies who brought flowers To
cheer the murdercr's cell may have Thought
him so the wife and mother of the unhappy
man. unless he had taken them into his con-
tidence. may have believed MIN gulltless
victim of circumstances; but In all
this great city, in which the ques-
ton of his guilt has been thoroughly
convassed, we doubt if there is a single man
who does not think that James II. Noe fell by
the homicidal hand of John Dolan. And yet
We have witnessed the most unweaIied efforts
TO secure Executive ciemcncy AMI II Gov'
Tiden had been only trife less decided, TINS
manslayer and burglar, one of the worst OF the
very worst class in this city, might have es-
caDed with his life. His dcmcanor during his
last hours was not that of an innocent man !;
tho stoldity, the bravado, the assumed indii-
ference indicated rather the playing OF part
bv an actor of iron nerve determined to play
IL I'm the end There were those who expected
that ot the final moment he would, to use the
nrison expression, weaken" but the same
brute force of character which made him
murderer kept him TO the end
sort of rude philosopher He maintained
all his tastes and appetites to the close. lie
Was hungry n. "A supper which was to be his
last be smoked his cigars with undiminlshed
relish; if he did not sleep at first 1t was be-
cause he preferred to be merry with the party
of watchers, and rs morning approached, strange
to Say. he slept like child; when morning
ccme he breakfasted and smoked his last cigar
We find nothing to admire in this kind of de
mennor, AMI we by no means accept it as evil
dtnce OF equanimity or even OF courage; IN
deed there is something in it more repulSive
than unmanly fear. As the supreme moment
,pprooched under such terrible circumstances,
the best feeling of Our nature demands S"mo
indication of a broken and contrite heart.
preiense of indifference OF OF bravery merely
disgusts us.


After the conviction of Dolan began the
dcsnerote effort TO save him from his fate.
Application was made for stay OF proceed
ings and denied. Again application was made
with like response. A convict was found
who was ready to make one Of those convenient
| aflidayits, so well known in criminal practice
which declare on the personal knowledge OF
the afIiant that the crimc was committed by
some person other than the individual con-
ycted of it. Subsequently stay OF proceed
ngs was granted by Judge Donohue on the
ground of newly discovered evidence, but the
witnesses to be produced were too well known
| TO the police, and the new trial was refused.
| Then counsel began their personal appeals to
| tho Executive, and at the very last there was
| n batch of newly discovered evidence of tic
very iishiest description, to which the Governor
Maid no attention whatever The final card
had been played. There was to be no commn-
| tation and there was to be no further reprleVe
| And Yesterday the man was executed.


Now, whether we approve of Capital Punish
| ment in theory or not, we most certainly do
approve of the execution of DOlan according
| to law. We have never since his arrest had
| the least reason to doubt his guilt Suppose
the attempt to secure new trial had been sue
cessful; suppose by tho introduction of manu-
| factured testimony the accused had been ac-
quilted suppose, yielding to importantly, Gov.
| Tilden had commuted the sentence to per-
| petual impris0nment-where would have
been the majesty of the law in New
York tO-day7 What respect would our GRIM
inal class, which is as depravcd as any
in the world, have had for the stat
ute against murderi What felon detected
in the perpetration of his work would have
been less likely to guard against discovery by
adding murder to robberyi The quarrel Of
the philanthropists is properly with the law,
and not with its execution; and yet we find
them continually attempting to save from the
gallows those who have been, after conviction,
legally sentenced thereto. 1t is not strange that
they fall into many Inconsistencies. In nine
cases out of ten they will have it that the
object of their sympathy is innocent, and yet
they will be satisfied if he is only imprisoned
for life, as If the injustice Of such Imprison-
ment were morally any less than the injustice
of hanging. Again, they are betrayed into a
credulity really childish. They attach an
absurd Importance to the protestations of
the prisoner They listen to the manu-
factured tales of his confederates They run
to the Executive with every bit Of idle