A laborer is returning home from his daily toil on Saturday night—peaceable, if not sober—and within a few steps of his dwelling, is assaulted and murdered. After one or two false pursuits, two young men are arrested—tried and convicted of murder in the first degree. The most revolting details of the steps which immediately preceded the perpetration of the first deed are spread out before the public in the daily papers, and show a recklessness and indefinite malice which makes one’s blood run cold. Not a shadow of doubt rests on the minds of the jury. The verdict is followed by the sentence, and the time is fixed for their execution. But no—hundreds and thousands of citizens unite to arrest the arm of justice, and to screen these desperate felons from the just reward of their deeds. Can any one fail to see the influence of such a proceeding, in relaxing the authority of the government, and bringing the highest sanctions of law into popular contempt?
But another case, and a still more flagrant one, may be cited. It presents various points of interest involved in our present inquiry.
It is said that Arthur Spring, when a young man, was guilty of robbing some orphan children, by forcibly opening a trunk, in which they had a little treasure, and stealing it. He was arrested, but escaped condemnation through the influence of a relation, who held a commission of the peace, and sat upon the trial! This probably emboldened him in his career. It is needless, and would be offensive, to spread on our pages a history of his infamous deeds. Suffice it to say, that he was convicted of a penitentiary offence in this city some years since, and pardoned within 48 hours after being committed! Again, he was convicted in New York, and again pardoned!
Then follow two, if not three, successive wilful, unprovoked, deliberate murders committed with a degree of boldness and ferocity almost unprecedented. He is tried, convicted and sentenced to suffer death.
And now the scene changes. The offence of the culprit is too rank to admit of any interposition for his rescue—no call for executive clemency would be tolerated in a case of such enormous atrocity. The death-warrant is issued, and the day for the execution is fixed. Most wisely and humanely, and in obedience to a reformed public sentiment, the law forbids this extreme penalty to be inflicted, as it once was, in presence of a gazing throng. What are its provisions?
10 April, 1834.—An Act to abolish public executions.
§ 1. Whenever hereafter any person shall be condemned to suffer death by hanging for any crime of which he or she shall have been convicted, the said punishment shall be inflicted on him or her within the wall or yard of the gaol of the county in which he or she shall have been convicted; and it shall be the duty of the Sheriff or Coroner of said county to attend, and be present at such execution, to which he shall invite the presence of a physician, the attorney general, or deputy attorney general of the county, and twelve reputable citizens, who shall be selected by the Sheriff: and the said Sheriff shall, at the request of the criminal, permit such ministers of the gospel, not exceeding two, as he or she may name, and any of his or her immediate relatives, to attend and be present at such execution, together with such officers of the prison, and such of the Sheriff’s deputies as the said Sheriff or Coroner in his discretion may think it expedient to have present; and it shall be only permitted to the persons above designated to witness the said execution: Provided, that no person under age shall be permitted, on any account, to witness the same.
§ 2. After the execution, the said Sheriff or Coroner shall make oath or affirmation, in writing, that he proceeded to execute the said criminal within the walls or yard aforesaid, at the time designated by the death-warrant of the Governor, and the same shall be filed in the office of the Clerk of the Court of Oyer and Terminer of the aforesaid county, and a copy thereof published in two or more newspapers, one of which at least shall be printed in the county where the execution took place.
Language could not make the design of the Legislature more intelligible. The walls of the prison yard effectually protect the enclosed area from being overlooked or entered without license; and it is within these walls that the extreme penalty of the law is to be inflicted. The Sheriff or Coroner to whom the warrant is addressed, is alone required to be present. He is to invite the presence of one of the principal prosecuting officers of the government, and only one of them. He is also to invite one physician and twelve reputable citizens of the county selected by himself, for the purpose. He is authorized to admit such ministers of the gospel as the culprit may desire and name, but never more than two, and also any of his immediate relatives, (if it were possible they could desire to witness such a scene). Besides these, no persons can be present (but in direct violation of law) except such officers of the prison, and such of his own deputies as he, the Sheriff, in his discretion may think it expedient to have present. And lest this permissive authority should be unduly stretched, it is restricted by a positive prohibition, that no other person shall witness the execution, and still farther to guard against any injurious effects from the scene, it is provided that no physician or minister, or relative, or officer of the prison, or other party, shall be admitted, if not twenty-one years of age or upwards.
The second section evidently contemplates such a record of the proceeding as shall be authentic and permanent in the absence of all personal or oral testimony—as for instance, if the Sheriff executed the warrant alone, none of the persons invited being in attendance, nor any minister or relative, nor any of the prison officers, or the Sheriff’s deputies, which, under the provision of the first section, was a supposable event. Now we maintain, that any violation of the letter or spirit of this law on the occasion of the execution of Arthur Spring, was, in the first place, in derogation of the dignity of the government—and in the second place, well fitted to bring all law into popular contempt, and to give encouragement to the perverse and disobedient to persist in their evil courses.