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HOPS. AXR, OB BULLET.
Vn* Tr* HtrmU
The attention which scientific men
have given the subject of capital pun
ishment within the last few weeks, has
aroused an intense and widespread in
terest on the question as to the best
means of putting criminals to death.
The terrible scenes which have recent
ly occurred at executions on the scaf
fold have created a stroug prejudice
against hanging among humane people,
and nowhere is this feeling stronger
than in New York. All professions
have, through the columns of the Her
ald, protested against the barbarity of
the hempen noose in the hands of an
ignorant or inexperienced hangman.
Doctors, clergymen and scientists of
•every class have presented their views
and suggested a remedy. Drowning,
suffocation, electricity, garroting, the
guillotine and piercing the head have
all been urged as more certain, speedy
and merciful means of death than the
rope and scaffold. But what have the
friendless unfortunates to say who are
the subjects of this wordy debate ?
lias science no consideration for their
feelings and opinions in the matter ?
Are not they best able to analyxe the
terrors of the gibbet in their months
of imprisonment, with the one thought
constantly present in their minds ?
OPPOSED TO CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
These reflections led a Herald re
porter to visit the Tombs, to learn
from the lips of twelve imprisoned
murderers what they had to say on this
awful subject. He was courteously ad
mitted by Warden Finn into the inner
prison. Ascending a flight of stairs
into the first tier the interviewer halted
in front of the cell of William Burke,
who stabbed and killed Alice Strick
land in June, 1877, and was captured
in San Francisco last November.
“ 1 am not in favor of capital pun
ishment,” said the prisoner. “It is
one of the great evils of the age. No
intelligent or charitable man is in favor
of it. I have read and studied much
on the subject, and am strongly against
putting any man to death.” This the
prisoner spoke iu a clear, loud voice.
“ Because a man commits a murder, is
that any excuse for committing another
murder, ten times more horrible, be
cause committed in cold blood ? If
the taking a fellow being’s life is some
thing which the whole universe con
demns, where are the people justified
in sending before his Maker a man in
nine cases out of ten unprepared ? An
other thing which is to lie considered
is the possibility of a man’s innocence.
Oh, sir, everybody knows that human
justice may err. And what reparation
have the people to offer for the murder
of an innocent man?" Burke paused
for a moment and then, pressing his
face close against the iron bars, he
continued in a low tone :—“ Besides, it
is foolish to say that society requires
blood as an atonement. When a man
is in State Prison for life society is for
ever rid of him, and the State derives
some benefit from his work. The only
fit expiation for the crime of murder is
a life time of labor for a wronged peo
ple and repentance to an offended God.
It is a matter of economy, and that’s
something to be considered.”
“ UNCERTAIN AND IGNOMINIOUS.”
“ What means of execution do you
think best ?”
“ Well, hanging is too ignominious
and too uncertain. I don't want to be
dragged on to a scaffold to have a rope
put around my neck, and then to be
slowly strangled to death or crippled
by a break in the noose. I would
sooner die by drowning in a tank or be
shut in an air tight room and suffocated
by the fumes of burning charcoal. It
must be fine to go off unconscious,
llow can a man think of his soul when
he contemplates the terrible death he
must suffer. If you take away the
most horrible features of execution
one’s mind is tranquil enough to make
his i>eace with God. Look at the guil
lotine. It is like butchering a hog to
cut a man’s head off, and hanging is
far less merciful. 1 don’t think a death
of agony is any deterrent to crime, and
the good moral effects of executions
are mere delusions.”
“ I suppose you feel curious a* to
wliat the sensation of hanging is ?”
Well, yes, I do, and I have often
tried to imagine it. But 1 must con
fess my curiosity does not extend to
extremes. That is, I have no desire
to experiment.” The reporter passed
on with the prisoner’s laughter ringing
in his ears.
The next cell visited was that of
Patrick McCormack, or, as he is better
known, “ Paddy the tramp.” llis of
fence is the murder of Thomas M clsh,
The Hartwell Sun.
By BENSON & McGHL.
VOL. IV—NO. 19.
in a drunken fit, on the day after last
election. In answer to inquiries he
expressed himself as being unqualified
ly against capital punishment, as it
robbed the Creator of a life which He
alone has tnc right to take away.
'• WATER OR WHISKY.”
•• But if I lied to die,” said he,
“ shurc I’d like to hev rneself dhrown
ed in wather or” (in a confidential tone)
“in whisky. Stringing a man up like
a dog isn’t a death for a poor divil who
does wrong whin lie's out av of his
min' with anger or rum. If I dies I
want to die quick, an’ not be thinking
av me sufferin’ all the toime in jail.
Shure it’s enough to take a feller's life
widout doin’ it as if he niver was a
good man or an innocent chile. Och,
phat does the wurruld know about a
a murderer’s sister or mother. Phat
does it care aither if they die av shame
at the disgrace av their boy.” Patsey
tried to be eloquent on the subject of
capital punishment, but bis emotion
choked all utterance, and he gasped
out the last wools with tears in his
eyes. The prisoner told the reporter
that not a friend came to see him.
George Smith, the colored steamboat
cook who shot his wife in Leonard
street on November 8, was next inter
viewed as to how he would prefer to
meet his end. lie seemed rather as
touuded at the questions asked; but,
after he was made to understand their
purpose, he said : —“ Of course I’m
against capital punishment. I suppose
you have read where it says —
No rogue e'er felt the halter draw
With good opinion of the law.”
The delivery of the quotation was
remarkably good, after which Smith
continued :
“SEND A BULLET THROUGH MY HEART.”
“Of course I don’t mean by that to
say I’m guilty. But I don’t want to
be hung like a dog. Stand me against
a wall and send a ballet through my
heart. Yes, sir, give me the bullet be
fore everything else. It is quick, sure
and merciful. But in hanging the law
docs not show as much mercy to the
murderer as he often shows to his vic
tim. It’s pretty hard to think of being
strangled. And it’s worse to think of
the rope being too long or too weak.
My God ! Why don’t the authorities
shoot a man and end his trouble at
once. But if a man got imprisonment
for life he would suffer more, and there
would be nothing wrong in keeping
him out of harm’s way and making
him work for what he has done.”
The next name on the black list
which the Warden had furnished to the
reporter was that of Thomas Condon,
who fatally stabbed John Lynch in
Elizabeth street on election day. He
was not in favor of capital punishment, j
as it did not agree with the laws of na
ture. Hanging was better adapted to
the peculiarities of lower animals than
to those of human beings. The dis
grace of the halter was as bad as the
actual physical suffering, and the con
templation of death by that means was
enough to drive a criminal insane.
Condon stated that he did not think the
fear of the gallows prevented crime |
more than the fear of lifelong impris
onment. “As for drowning,” said he,
“ I can speak of that from personal
experience. I fell into the North River
one winter night and was caught under
a piece of ice. There is no fun in it I
can tell you. If you threw a man in a
tank he would struggle horribly, even
if you handcuffed him. I am very
much against cutting the head off, be
cause it’s inhuman. The only way to
kill a man who must die is to make him
insensible and then let him die by the
same cause. The law’s intent is not to
inflict suffering, but to end a life which
is injurious to the community. The
best way is to confine a man in an air
tight room and fill it with gas or burn a
charcoal fire. He could be dosed with
chloroform and then taken to the exe
cution room. The proper witness could
see him during the time through small
windows iu the walls so high up that
they would be out of his reach. A
council of physicians could then judge
when he was dead. It is the only way
I would choose to die if I was convict
ed and sentenced. I don’t believe in
electricity, for if it failed to kill a man
lai unce the agony of the death would
HARTWELL. GA„ WEDNESDAY JANUARY 7, 1880,
be awful. Ugh ! when I think of it it
makes my blood run cold. Thegarrote
isn’t a bail idea, but it is too slow.”
DROWNING I’REFERRED.
The cell of Francisco Acceta, the
Italian murderer, is at the extreme end
of the corridor, No. 63. The old man
hobbled up to the iron grating at the
reporter’s request; but, when asked
how he would like to die, cried out,
“ Mea no wanta to die at all. Noa
shoot; noa hang.” Raising his hands
above his gray head he poured out in
a terrified voice a volume of Italian
curses, only a few of which the reporter
could understand. Finally, after the
questions were understood, he took a
glass of water and poured it on his
head to signify that drowning was his
choice. He illustrated by motions with
his hands and frightful facial accom-
horrors of the guillotine
and the garrote. The reporter was con
vinced that Acceta was not in favor of
capital punishment, and passed on to
the cell in which Frank Bello is im
prisoned.
“Me not want to die,” said he; “me
like to go home. Hang]uo’good. My
country no hang. Bad for poor Bello.”
Bello was unable to speak good Eng
lish, but made several motions as
though to stab himself, nodding all the
time in a laudatory sort of manner.
His intention doubtless was to show his
choice of death by the knife.
William Poole was found in cell No.
56. Together with Joseph Le Font he
killed a man with a club in April, 1877.
He is opposed to capital punishment,
and among many reasons offered this,
that no man has a right to judge whether
a life is the only reparation for a great
crime. Imprisonment for life is terri
ble enough. “ I have got a life sen
tence and 1 am becoming an old man
quick. Oh, if 1 never see my little
girl again!” and the prisoner’s voice
trembled, while the tears started to his
eyes, “ life would be an agony. These
walls have nothing in them that is
bright or lovely. I try to compose my
self but cannot. If I had to choose
ray way of death I should prefer suffo
cation by gas. It is the only merciful
and respectable means of execution.
Hauging is a disgrace which is covered
by the name of justice.” The prisoner
here began to assert his innocence in
an earnest voice, but, not wishing to
excite him, the reporter withdrew.
EVERY MURDERER SHOULD BE HANOEI).
The next cell visited was that of
Joseph Le Font, Poole’s accomplice.
On being asked if he was opposed to
capital punishment the young man
said:—
“ No, sir; lam in favor of hanging
every murderer. lam here under sen
tence for a murder of which I am in
nocent. If a man has a clear case of
murder proved against him I believe
he ought to be hanged. It’s all non
sense to talk about mercy to a man
who kills another. An eye for an eye
and a tooth for a tooth. lam in favor
of quartering the fiends. They can
say death lias no terrors, but I tell you
it makes them tremble at night in the
cell. Let a man prepare for his God
after he has been sentenced. There is
more time given him than lie gave his
victim. The effect of hanging is some
thing which is certain to tell among
the ignorant classes, from which mur
derers come.”
The reporter next went down stairs
to interview two men condemned to
death, Chastine Cox and Pietro Balbo.
Murderers’ Row was decorated with
Christmas wreaths, to remind the con
demned men of the season of universal
rejoicing which is approaching. “ Step
lightly,” said the Warden, in a soften
ed voice; “ poor Balbo is at his
prayers.” The condemned man was
on his knees in the darkened cell, with
his eyes turned upward and his lips
moving silently. When the reporter
approached and asked him if he be
lieved murderers ought to be put to
death, he clung to the bars like a wild
animal, bis eyes flashing in the gloom.
“Me no want to die,” he cried, “me
want to live.”
A PITEOUS APPEAL.
Balbo then held a brass crucifix
through the iron bars and said in trem
ulous tones, “ I no bad, my wife she
makee me kill. Me only twenty-four
Devoted to Hart County.
year old. Too young!” Then, with
tears coursing down his cheeks, hs
cowered against the cell door, his pale
face raised to the light, crying, ** Me
pray all the time, me pray all the time ;
me believe in Jesus Christ: He makee
me save. Me too young to die. Keepee
me in jail long time, makee me good.
Me want to be good. Oh! save me,
save me!”
The scene wan so terrible and tragic
that even the Wanion, accustomed to
the most touching spectacles of prison
life, was moved to tears and said,
“ Poor Kalbo! A man that shows so
mneh feeling must have some good in
him!’’
u if me die,” the prisoner went on,
“me wants water. But me pray to
Jesus Christ. He keepee me alt the
time. Yon no like to die, for you have
some friend. But me hare no Wend
but”—
The prisoner raised his eyes; a soft
smile came over lus face, and he seem
ed to forget the preseucc of his visitor,
who withdrew.
Chnstine Cox was next interviewed.
The condemned negro lay on his lied
smoking a short pipe, and he directed
the reporter to place his ear against the
bars so that he might hear clearly.
“ Now, you see,” said he, “ hanging
is foolish in most cases. I believe in
hanging men over fifty years of age.
I call them grav-headed sinners. But
young fellows like you and me are ten
der hearted and we would be likely to
repent and reform. You and I are not
hardened old rascals. VVe have feel
ings and hopes. Hanging does not
prevent crime. When one man kills
another the thought that is farthest
from his wind is the penalty. lie is
either willing to hear the penalty or
has no fear of detection. 1 don’t want
to die at all. But if 1 had to die, give
me a rifle ball through the head or
heart. It Is a soldier’s death and the
quickest one I know of.
couldn’t shoot a deserter,
** I was in the army and used to see
them shoot deserters. Whenever I was
sent out with a firing party for that
purpose I refused. In Italy they used
to bleed men to death. That was a
good way, because a man became un
conscious. But hauging and drowiiing
are a dog’s deaths, and not fit for hu
man beings. I believe a man should
be put in prison for life and given a
chance to prepare himself for his eud.
What is three months to a man who
has led a wicked or criminal life ? No
body can become a Christian to order.
I wonder how the judges of the courts
would feel in a murderer's place, count
ing the days and hours which bring him
to the gallows.”
Cox then gave quite a scientific lec
ture on the various modes of hanging
which have been practised in Europe,
on which subject he seemed particularly
well informed, when tbe reporter left
the corridor. Warden Finn spoke very
feelingly of the murderers, but gave no
opinion on the subject of capital pun
ishment. Thomas Whalen and John
Madid, two of the Tombs murderers,
refused to talk at all. Mad ill said he
was afraid of exciting himself and in
juring his reason.
The Augusta News says: *‘ The latest
news from Maine gives a bloody tinge
to affairs in that far off Htnte. The citi
zens of Bangor, in a mob capacity, re
fused to permit an officer sent by the
Governor to remove some arms and mil
itary stores from that city to Augusta.
There is great excitement, and it would
be in order now for Governor Colquitt
to offer President Hayes ten thousand
men to quell the disturbance down East
Georgia could, and would do it, if the
muzzles were unloosed.”
An exchange in a neighboring town
contains an account of a sad affair. It
says that a certain man in that town,
who has never advertised, was found
dead under his counter where he had
been laying for two days. He was acci
dentally discovered by a small boy who
went ia to get a nickel changed. As
he had never advertised, people had for
gotten where his store was, and hence
nobody happened to discover the corpse
until decomposition had set in.
Be careful with your dateo. This is
1880.
$1.50 Per Annum.
WHOLE NO. 1*75.
THE NEW TRAM.
Rina; out wild bIL to th wild sky,
The flying clouds, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night:
Ring out wild bells and let him die.
Ring out the old. ring in the new.
Ring happy belL, serous the anew,
The year is going, let him go ;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that sspM the mind.
For those that here we see no more ;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor.
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cauae.
And ancient forms of party strife ;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter iu sutlers, (Hirer laws.
Ring out thu want, the care, the sin.
The faithless coldness of the tiinos;
Ring out, ring out iny mournful rhymes
Rut ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite ;
Ring in the love of truth and right.
King in the common love of good.
Ring out old shape* of’foul disease:
King out the narrowing lust of gold ;
King out the thousands wara of old,
King in the thousand years of peace.
ltinr in the valiant man and free.
The larger heart, the kindlier hand ;
King out tlie darkness of the laud,
King in the Christ that is to tie.
1 Vnnysott.
I'iKtWKU TO NEVKNTY-NINK.
Fare the well, then, seventy-nine.
The latest of thy days is here !
So. as we triumph over time,
We’ll hail the coming year.
But, where are they, the loved—the feat—
Uli where are they, the young—tbe glad ?
On life’s wide ocean, tempest-tost,
Or in the church-yard bed?
Closed are the eyes which sparkled bright.
The hearts are still'd in silence drear.
That might have throb’d with our* to-night
To hail the coming year !
Alas alas 1 why should wc mourn
O’er mellow pleasures which have been ?
Could sorrowing make the past return,
Or bring the vanish’d acene-M-
Couid sighs restore whom w deplore,
The foreign-far should now be here.
And voice’s join witli thine and miitc,
To hail the coming year t
Then far from us scowl sullen care -
Ann, as yon stars more brilliant seem.
When frost is in the moonless air ;
And ice upon the stream.
So let us keep in buoyant hope.
Yea, brave all ills with dauntless cheer,
A ltd trust to meet, in friendship sweet.
For many a coining year !
THE WOKIMt Or NTKENUTH.
There are threo lessons I would write—
Three words as with a burning pen,
In tracings of eternal light,
Upon the hearts of men.
Have Hope. Though clouds environ now,
And gladness hides her face in scorn,
Put thou the shadow from thy brow—
No night but hath its morn.
Have Faith. Where’er thy hark is driven
The calm's deport, the tempest’s m.rth—
Know this —God rates thu hosts of Heaven,
The inhabitants of earth.
Have Love. Not love alone for one,
Rut man as man, thy brother call,
And scatter like the circling sun
Thy charities on a>l.
Thus grave these lessons on thy soul
Hope, Faith and Live, and thou shall find
Strength when life’s surges rudest roll,
Light when thou else were blind,
— Schiller.
The Education of the Masses.
Iforlheatlern Progrui.
This is a subject always open for dis
cussion and thought. And while it may
be, perchance, considered, that one
whose educational ndvnntnge* never ex
ceeded hut a few months in the “c.ld
field pine-log school-room ” —and that
before arriving at eleven years of age —
is not real good authority, yet we ven
ture a suggestion or two, hoping that
someone may be benefitted thereby.
Newspaper men, we think, are placed in
a position, generally speaking, to judge
more particularly of the qualifications
of people in this respect, than uny other
class; and what we would call the at
tention of the educators of the present
day to, is, the learning of their pupils to
read, write and spell correctly. With
all our boasted advantages of schools,
colleges uud universities, it is certainly
a lamentable fact that there is a great
deficiency in this respect. Boys ami
girls are “ trotted through ” —to use a
slang phrase—too hastily. They study
arithmetic, geography, grammar, Latin,
and yet, it is often the case, that
when they quit school they cannot write
a sentence of ten lines correctly, either
in spelling, composition or punctuation.
Therefore, while “Normal schools” and
kindred enterprises are before the peo
ple, we hope the educators will endeavor
to make their pupils a little more perfect
in the “ lower branches.”
Four or five hundred negroes have
left Goldsboro, N. C., and surrounding
country, witbiu about a month, their
destination being Indiana.
Horace (frecleyv
Jarkto* Vittui.
More than any other man, living or
dead, 11 or ft* Greeley was the father af
Abolitionism. From his prolific braiu
sprang the inspiration which led to the
dual overthrew of the ffcMth,. aod the
deliverance, freedom and enfran!lise
ment of the black mao. Hta whole life,
grand in its magnificent soeeass, was <ft
voted to the work of striking the mana
cles of slavery from tfie limbs-of the M
gro. ftat after this heroic task waa ac
complished, he dipped his gleaming and
keen sd meter into tfte oif of concord —
his war against the South was ended,
and he strove with all the earnestness of
his better nature to heal ths wounda
which had been made.
When our fa I fere President
stood before the bar of the Federal Coort
iu Richmond, and was required to give
a bond in sum of 1100,000, tbe question
was [Ait: "Who will be your bonde
ineuf” ‘I will be his hondsmaifv-” waa
(he thrilling reply that came froas thar
lips of Horace Greeley.
We do not pretend to sav that Hor
ace Greeley was right in his long and
[teraistent War against slavery in this
! country- Perhaps he was not- ('nr.
tainly he wan bitterly opposed at every
, step bv all of our people. But with
him it was clearly a conscientious work,*
and the result proved it successful.
During his few remaining years, howev
er, after the closu of the war, he dis
played only ths ehanietonstios of a
grand moral hero—the superb style of
the hero who could be just and magnsß
iinous in the hour of triumph.
We know of no man iu American
history whose character.comiuauds more
admiration tliaa that of Horace Grew
fey. And when the National Domes'
cratic party arccpted him as a standard
bearer for President it made ft record of
supreme (jisiiiferestedncss that will last
forever as ooe one of the proudest epic
slides in its glorious history. It brought
the |niitiniin animosities and ambitions of
an entire generation, mid bi/i4*N? them
dill at the feet of the man in the gran‘s
dour of wlioftc integrity and patriotism
they trusted. AH the bickerings and
butfettings of the past, ail hopes ol pres
ent party triumphs were laid there upou
the altar of patriotism. ,
The fact that Greeley was not elected
—the fact tliul he was rejected by the
North, only allowed the decay of poiiti'
oal virtue in that section; and the fact
that the negroes repudiated him in the
Houth only proves that there is another
race besides the ancient Jews capable
of crucifying their Savior. Here is a
specimen of the blackest of black, in
gratitude. It was enough to make the
great soul of Horace Greeley cry out in
agony a* did the blessed Savior upou
the Lro**, “My God !my God f Why
hast Thuu forsaken me?” Here was a
race whom he had delivered from the
night of two hundred yonrr of Hxmdage
stabbing him in the heart and crushing
out the vital spark that illuminated the
glory of his ripened ami matured man
hood, and mellowed the completion of
his immortal lifetime work. Well might
he turn to this African race of iugratea,
and, like Caesar w hen lie saw the baud
of protege and bosom friend lifted up
against him, exclaim, “AYfw BrtiU- /*’
If this race for whose emancipation he
had devoted bis entire life aud all his
marvelous talent had turued upou him,
existence here had lost allurements, his
life was a stupendous failure—the great
heart of Horeco Greeley was broken
and reason fled from one of its [woudest
th rones.
The Greeley monument in 1872 was
an abortion, not because it ought to have
succeeded, but because the reliance upon
the gratitude of the negro for their ben
efactor was misplaced, and the Araeri 1
can people were unable to rise to the
grandeur of Greely’s theory of politics
at the time embraPCd in the talismanic
words of “ shaking hands across tha
bloody chasm.” It was a dark day for
American magnanimity, justice ami fra
ternity when the light of Horace Gree
ley went out
A Pittsburg, Pa., dispatch says that
the people of that city are in a fever of
excitemeut over a fisticuff in the
First Reformed Presbyterian church.
In a vote for a pastor, Rev. Naviu
Woodaide received 167 votes, and an
other candidate 116. In a meeting at
the church a few nights after, both min
isters were present with their friends,
and both desired to preach. The quar
rel culminated in a fight, in which the
clergy and laity freely engaged.
“What a blessin’ it is," said a hard
working Irishman, “that night aiver
comes on till late in the day, when a
man is tired and can't work any at all.”
Make good resolutions.