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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.