We avail ourselves of the columns of a highly respectable religious Journal published in Philadelphia, for a statement of the facts in respect to this particular case, rather than rely on our own information:
The recent execution of an atrocious murderer was witnessed, as all the reporters tell us, by a thousand persons. By what authority such a concourse could have been assembled, we know not: but of this there can be no doubt, it could have been only by a culpable evasion of the law. In the olden time, when any body under the impulse of curiosity or any better or worse motive, could at will form one of the crowd at an execution, the spectators were perhaps some four or five thousand in number: and now, even under the restrictions of the new law, the amateurs of the gallows—men who get the privilege of the ghastly sight by help of some official weakness or abuse—are reckoned a thousand. And such is the morbid curiosity which the law was meant to chasten and thwart, that a Grand Jury the other day is reported to have actually presented themselves in Court to inquire whether they were not officially privileged to attend the execution. We should have been glad if the dry negative which the Judge is reported to have given them had risen to the tone of rebuke. That a body of citizens charged with such high and dignified responsibilities as those of the Grand Jury should have so far forgotten their official, if not personal character, as to make this indecent application, has, we believe, excited but one sentiment—that of disgust—in this community.
It would be unjust to leave our readers under the impression that this was an occurrence without precedent. If we do not greatly mistake, quite as disgraceful a violation of the law occurred when Langfeldt was executed. And we do not hesitate to say that, whether they mean it or not, those who have permitted or countenanced these palpable violations of law in the very act of executing its stern decree, have done quite as much to defeat as to enforce its sanctions.
But all the revolting story in Spring’s case is not yet told, and we return to our former authority for its shameful details:
The lifeless body of the vile criminal was given up to the anatomist. Of this fact alone no one need complain. But a community has a right to ask that anatomy should do its hideous work with some reserve—and instead of parading its loathsome details, should cast a veil over them. The execution was witnessed by a thousand, and the dissection by (as we may infer) some hundreds. An elaborate newspaper report informs us that the post mortem examination was made “in the anatomical theatre of the Philadelphia College of Medicine, by Professor James M‘Clintock, in the presence of a large audience of medical students, physicians, members of the press and others.” According to the report, it must have been a very theatrical sort of exhibition—the follies of phrenology contributing largely to enliven it. Science may have gained something by such a piece of work, and by the lecture that accompanied it: it is possible, we suppose, that the knowledge of the theory and practice of hanging may have been a little increased, and perhaps some small addition made to the science of anatomy: but when we are told by the reporter that the Professor who made the dissection was “pleasantly facetious,” in his performance, we must say, that if science gained any thing, it was at the expense of human feeling and of decency. Pleasantry!—facetiousness! What an occasion for the exercise of such powers! We would fain hope that the reporter used the words inconsiderately and inappropriately, and that he must have done the Professor injustice: but if not—if the man of science, standing over the ghastly carcass of the broken-necked criminal, from which an undying soul had so lately passed forth so fearfully, did accompany his explorations with any sort of facetiousness; and if his “large audience” did at all sympathize with such ill-placed levity, then—not trusting ourselves to picture what sort of a scene it was—we will only say that thus conducted, the anatomical theatre is as brutalizing and demoralizing as the public hanging ground itself. When Hogarth, with all his wondrous powers of commingling the grotesque and the ghastly, carried the vicious apprentice on to the last scene in the dissecting room, he did not venture, if we remember rightly, to picture there a facetious anatomist.
If we had space we should be disposed to comment somewhat at length on several points here presented, and others which have come to our knowledge from parties who were present, but we can only advert for a moment to the indirect influence of the published report of the examination.
It would seem that the physical structure of the murderer was such as to indicate the ferocious and brutal disposition which he manifested. With such a development of brain, muscles, &c., it would have been quite a perplexing problem to scientific men, had he been less tender of the lives of his fellow-creatures. Now it occurred to us, as philanthropists, that we might perhaps do away with a great deal of crime and suffering, and almost the whole expense of the police, of criminal courts, prisons, &c., by a simple process like the following. Let a commission of discerning and judicious men of science be appointed in every county or large town, (like vaccine districts) who shall be required once a month to examine all persons within a given district, with a view to determine their developments. As soon as there is a perceptible tendency to thieving, burglary, fraud, robbery, rape, murder, or other criminal course, let it be duly recorded; and without waiting for the actual consummation of the deed, which is really the expensive feature of it, let the development suffice to put the public on its guard, and subject the party in whose unfortunate brain it is detected, to the same pains and penalties which he or she would suffer, were it to be allowed full expansion. A moment’s reflection will satisfy any one of the economy and efficiency of this plan.
The whole course of legislation, adjudication and punishment would thus be resolved into a plain matter of professional science; and all questions about the sources and preventives of crime would be brought to the surface of the cranium, and there be settled by square and compass!
Miscellaneous.
Indiscriminate Almsgiving.—Great is the glory of benevolence; it outshines that of wealth and war. Hence, the wide and lasting fame of John Howard. All men revere his memory. The story of his life thrills the soul. None can read it without learning to admire the beauties of his goodness, and the moral gorgeousness of his charity. We enshrine his name in our heart of hearts. But John Howard was not benevolent only—he was wise; his insight into remedies was consummate. He sought to understand the sources of crime, and the character of criminals. He was prudent, methodical, firm; his wisdom and his love went hand in hand. Both his spirit and his understanding were consecrated to the great work which formed his mission.