St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 15

ffews PART TWO. ST. LOUIS, SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE 8, 1919. PAGES 1 14a Men Found God in "No Man's Should Capital Punishment Be Restored? Ujid" When They Fell, "Gypsy Pat" Smith Says PQST-DISPATCH AN INTERESTING SYMPOSIUM OF OPINIONS BY ST. LOUISANS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT ONLY DETERRENT OF CERTAIN CRIMES, SAY CIRCUIT ATTORNEY AND HIS PREDECESSOR Soldier-Evangelist Answers Question as to Whether Dying Fighters Go to Heaven Without Personal Religious Experience by Saying No Man Ever Went Over Top and Remained an Atheist Fighters at Front Very Susceptible to Old Fundamentals of Gospel, He Asserts Predicts Same Thing Will Be True in Civil Life, Though Outward Signs May Be Lacking.

By Thomas B. Harvey, Former Circuit Judge and Mr. McDaniel 's Predecessor as Cir Lynching at Lamar Few Days Ago Regarded as Protest Against Present Life System General Increase of Crime and Spreading Bomb Outrages Suggest to Many the Necessity of Returning to the Stern Mosaic Rule That Demanded an Eye for an Eye and Life for Life Others Say Change Would Be Step Backward. cuit Attorney. OPPOSED the repeal of the stat- ute which provided the death penalty on the ground that certain I "The way to reach men home from the war la GAPT.

PAT SMITH, gypsy-bom Scotch soldier-evangelist, -who will speak three times today at Union Methodist Church, has a new answer to the greatest religious question of the war period. This question was, and for the religiously minded a question being discussed a gTeat deal by ministers, but it is simple. Preach the old-fashioned gospel message. England the men are coming into the churches in a way that shows the effect of the experiences at the front. "When men come back from France, they are ITtTHETHER or not it was a mistake to abolish capital punishment in Missouri ff and fail to restore it to the statute books at the session of the Legislature which has just closed is a question that is being discussed in many quar ters, in.view of the recent lynching of Jay Lynch at Lamar, after he had con fessed murdering a Sheriff and the Sheriffs son.

Under the present law, Lynch could not have suffered a severer penalty than life imprisonment for his coldblooded crime. The bomb outrages in the last few days also have caused the 9 thoughts of many to revert to capital punirhment as a way to check such outrages, which thus far have been confined to the East, but may spread at any time to other sections of the country: By Lawrence McDaniel, Circuit Attorney. BEFORE the meeting of the Legislature of the State of Missouri in January this year, I appealed to all the prosecuting attorneys throughout the State to aid in having the death penalty restored as punishment for various crimes of violence, and worked earnestly toward this end during the session of the Legislature. The Senate voted almost unanimously to restore this penalty. When a vote was taken in the House enough votes were cast to pass the measure but three members changed their votes after the roll call, hence by three votes the measure was lost.

Anyone giving thought to existing conditions ought to have seen that strict enforcement of the criminal law and drastic punishment for violation of it is absolutely necessary. There is great social unrest and danger of the spread of Bolshevism, a condition that demands severe punishment. I did not advocate the restoration of the death penalty just' to see someone hang, but have always believed that with the exreme penaly on our. stat-ute books, the commission of many crimes could be deterred. In my judgment life imprisonment is not adequate punishment for some crimes.

Shortly after the abolition of the death penalty, a man in this city criminally assaulted a very young girl and his act resulted in her death. Was life imprisonment adequate for him? Would a mob have lynched a man in Lamar, if the death penalty had been on the statute books? Opposition to the restoration of the death penalty came from well meaning persons, who, unfortunately, were not experienced in the enforcement of the criminal law. The argument is advanced that taking life legally is brutal. This may be true, but many murders are far more brutal than a legal execution, and punishment The murders by the Lewis brothers and many gang killings in St. Louis also likely to have a and they may sometimes seem farther from the outward signs of religion than they were before.

But when they settle down, the memories of the incidents nd experiences of the trenches, and the times when they were brought face to face with God, will bring an awakening in their hearts. "No man has been through the trench experience without some change in his heart and life. On the Somme, in July, 1916, our men went over the top singing 'Onward, Christian and they meant it, home people are sometimes disappointed In the men, because they have not suf have seemed to some to be an argument in favor of repudiating the legislative action by which capital punishment was revoked. 1 1 -1 Sot, VJ? 0 3 iu in relatives of many dead soldiers, still is: Does a soldier dy- Ing on the battlefield, ma righteous cause, but without having had a personal religious experience, go 'Jo heaven? "I have spoken to thou-tands of soldiers on religion," said Capt. Smith, "and I never told them that they would go to heaven just because they died on the battlefield.

Soldiers don't believe anything of the sort. I have heard the people at home talk that way, but not the men at the front. "But here ia what I do believe, and what I am glad to say for the comfort -of the parents and friends of the soldier dead. 1 believe that many thousands found Ood in No Man's Land, In the hour pf battle and In the moment of death. "On the Sorame.

of 700 bodies of our men killed in battle, some 650 were found In a half-kneeling murders axe so atrocious that death is the only adequate punishment. I feel, too, that the community feels that death' should be the penalty for pre-mediated murder. The absence of capital punishment, to my mind, encourages lynching, which always are a disgrace to civilixa-tion. Take the case at Lamar, Mo. It is' possible that the people there believed that the State was without adequate remedy for the offense that Jay Lynch committed, and as a result took the law into their own hand.

Some crimes are so heinous and outt-rageous that it seems that the only' thing that will act a a deterrent to the other ia the lure and swift administration of juatice through the death penalty. I think that fear of the gallows is the only thing that will deter hardened criminals and those naturally disposed to commit homicide from the commission of such acts. I believe it would be far better for the public at large if power is given to juries to decide whether death or life imprisonment be assessed against capital offenders. should fit the crime. Under the law as it now exists the murderer has little to fear.

He may murder a great number of people, yet life imprisonment Is the only penalty. A convict in the penitentiary for life may murder a guard or guards to effect an escape and suffer no further punish ment. Life imprisonment rarely means that a man shall spend the rest of his life in the penitentiary. With but very few exceptions, no person committed to the Renitentiary for life has served over fteen years. A number churchmen, educators and lawyers have been asked by the Post-Dispatch whether in view of such conditions and the recurrence of such crimes of violence it was a wise move to abrogate capital punishment.

Here are their expressions: Life for Life, Says Judge Dyer. JUDGE D. P. DYER of the United States Dis trict Court for the Eastern Missouri District, and for 50 years a civil and criminal practitioner, said: "A man who takes another man's life should ficiently understood the pay the penalty with his own life. I think it was men's feelings.

But it would be well if the home folks had been affected a mistake to abolish capital punishment and I think it should be put back on the statute books wherever it was taken off." Glennon Blames Pardon System. as deeply as the sol CAPT. PAT SMITH. diers have been. The effect on the home folks has at least been good in ARCHBISHOP JOHN J.

GLENNON of the Ro a physical way. man Catholic diocese of St. Louis said: "Old women who have been keeping doctors posture. I have never heard any medical man say that this was the result of any reflex actfon of the muscles. I know, -from my own physical experience as a wounded man, and from the words of the dying men to whom I have listened, that these men died in the act of prayer.

"I did not advocate the abolition of capital pun alive for years have no ailments now, and the doctors can give their time to more necessary work. Women who nursed poodles have found ishment. It wa abolished while people were swayed by a humanitarian wave. They were getting so good they thought it would hurt people's feelings to inflict capital punishment something else in life, in nursing and caring for human beings. Brings Thought of Eternity "Such momentous Questions should not be de "It is hardly likely that the United States should feel such a profound religious effect from the war as England is feeling.

Our killed were 900,000, out of a population of 34,000,00, or about termined on any wave of a temporary or emotional character. Just now there is a great deal of unrest and blood lust as a result of the great one In every 38 persons. Your country with war and it might be necessary to adopt drastic measures to check crime, but due consideration all its splendid service, was not so long in the favor of the re-establishment of some form of capital punishment in Missouri, and of its universal use in cases where it seems to be really needed. "I have lived in a community where lynching has been resorted to Springfield, Mo. They have had some lynchings down there that were most regrettable.

"I have not much sympathy with the sentimentality that is always on the side of the 'poor unfortunate, as they call him. I am a strong believer in a wholesame respect for the law. I am speaking now entirely as a layman. I may be wrong, but my impression is that most of the Irregularity and outlawry of lynchings is due to the court decisions, and particularly to the delays in court. "I think one of the greatest objections to the abolition of capital punishment is the too frequent leniency of Governors in pardoning life-termers.

"I have not a very clearly defined opinion about the recent dynamite plots. It seems to me they are just another attempt to terrorize the world. I should not think that history would give the plotters much encouragement. It never has worked in the past. These plotters should be' severely dealt with.

How, Is up to the courts, but I think they should receive the death -penalty if their deeds resulted In deaths. "It seems to me, speaking as a layman again, that England shows us what can be done by rigid enforcement of the law. I do not believe there has been a lynching in England in the last hundred years. "So far as I know, In all of Canada, which is similar in its respect of law to' England, there has not been one in all that time. There have been but two or three train hold-ups in Western Canada in some years.

I think that this condition is due to the fact that in England and Canada everybody knows that the laws will be speedily enforced. "Lynchings are one of the worst outbreaks of mob law. While the 1n my opinion, are different, the anarchist is more guilty than the mob, but the effects are not so different. Mob law injures the community- much more than it injures the victims of the mob. Anarchy, however, is a form of mob law.

"The death penalty is not really barbarous, provided it can be conducted in a scientific and humane manner." should be given to the subject before reversing war, and lost no such a portion of its men. "Our soldiers In France were men, not angels, the Legislature's action. In this we should, not be moved by Impulse. They did not drink to excess. I saw only two of "I would not be one of those to serve on a com our men Intoxicated while I was In France.

In other matters, they behaved very much as men do at home, except that it was easier to reach them with the religious appeal than it is to reach the mittee to demand the reintroduction of capital punishment. I personally believe it never should have been taken off, but I do not think we should tamper with legislation on vital matters of morals and I would not demand the restoration of capital punishment just now. men at home. "The men of our Scotch regiment were rough "Here Is the physical part of it. The men whose bones are broken by bullets, as the bones in my left arm and thigh were broken, soon experience a numbness in these parts of the body and this brings relief from pain.

Then comes the thought of the nearness of eternity, and the rman Instinctively takes the attitude of prayer, and begins the act of prayer. As the Hf passes, the body relaxes to the posture in which so many bodies are found, the crouching, half-kneeling position. "The artist paints men dying on the battlefield, lying on their backs, but the more common attitude is the one I have described. "I have heard these prayers of dying men. Often they end with a last Cry of "This conclusion as to the men's last moments is in accord with the facts which I have learned, in service throughout the war, about the religious belief of the men at the front.

"No infantryman ever went over the top and remained an atheist. I am sure of this. Speaking to thousands, at the front and among the home people, I have challenged them to tell me of any man in the firing line who did not believe in God. No one has ever done so. "I do not believe many men went over the top without a prayer.

A man may swear when he comes back from the battle, but when he is going iato it, he will pray. "It might be said that with capital punishment coal miners, but none of the women who nursed me in my 19 months in the hospital was more tender than those men. The sight of death, and in force that man would not have been lynched at Lamar. With equal truth it might be said the danger of death, do not harden such men, They make their hearts tender. Men learn to "I believe If the capital punishment statute was in effect today the lynching recently at Lamar, would not have occurred.

I believe those people were incited to do what they did because they felt the slayer of their Sheriff and his eon could not get under the law what they justly believed was coming to hlm Manifestly, tho character of men the newspaper accounts connect with this affair are the kind of men who would have reflected their wisdom in a jury verdict with a death penalty. My judgment is, from the accounts I read, that there were among them some of the best people of the community, and I do not believe they will even begin to convict any of them. In plain words, this was a case where the law was not sufficient vindication, and the people took the case into their own band. "The people who argue that capital punishment Is barbarous overlook the fact that the purpose of all law, civil or criminal, is to conserve rights, and laws ought to be severe enough to answer their purpose. Society would have no purpose in punishing anybody if It could be assured a crime committed would not be repeated.

Society could safely allow the original offender to go free if it were safe to do so. But the purpose of society In assessing adequate punishment is to prevent Its recurrence for the sake of protecting the whole social "fabric. "I think the beat interests of all wilt be conserved It it is left to juries to decide whether the punishment be life or death In capital cases. Just as circumstances warrant. "In that way it will give the people a rhanre to expresa what they want done with offenders.

If the people are to be the Judges ot punlnliment why not give them the right to say what It will be. "As an instance of what drastic enforcement cf rigid law Is I noticed some time ago that In London, during the period of a year, 15 persons were charged with murder, 11 of whoi.i vers executed for their crimes. I compared the record with St. Louis for the same period. I found Hint not return to capital punishment until we have given the law abolishing death for crime a square-toed trial.

One swallow doesn't make a summer and a short test doesn't prove anything. Certainly, if statistics are not available in our own State on the effect on crime of the abolishment of hanging, we should determine the experience of other states in the mattwr. "The Lamar case is not connected with the question in my opinion, although I have heard an ugly rumor that it might have been a plotted commentary on the refusal of the Legislature to restore capital punishment, I have heard It said that it -svas stated on the floor of the House that If the slayer was caught he would be hanged whether or no the Legislature legalized hangings. That should be investigated. But there were lynchings with capital punishment in effect and there probably will be lynchings If it is restored.

The question of lynching is a separate problem." "Only Deterrent ot JUDGE WILSON A. TAYLOR, Division No. 11, Circuit Court for Criminal Causes, said: "I favor the restoration of the death penalty In Missouri, not because I would care to see any man expiate a crime on the gallows, but because I firmly believe that capital punishment on the statute books is the greatest deterrent ot capital crimes. "I think I may also say that most of our Judges, both civil and criminal, feel the same way. I remember they were in favor of passing a resolution advocating re-enacting the statue when the matter was up before the last Legislature.

Lack of data on crime at that time, I believe, prevented action being taken. "However, my own Judgment is, from the handling of criminal cases, that the fear a man hat of extreme punishment will often prevent him from resorting to homicide, and for that reason alone I believe the death penalty should be that if the men who did that lynching knew they would be hanged for it there would have been no lynching. weep without shame, and it is good for them. "I am Inclined to think both of those views Hearts Hardened in Hospitals are extreme. The people of Lamar who killed that man not only knew there would be no capital punishment for their offense, but they felt they "I have found that men on leave from the front are very easily approached with the message of the gospel.

On the other hand, men in hospitals are not so easily reached. There is a relaxation of the religious feelings that came while in the lines, and there is a sense of physical security, which causes some men to harden their Capt. Smith, who entered the war as a pri would not go to jail for it. If all lynchers were condemned to die, there would be no lynchings. "Life imprisonment might be an adequate punishment for murder if it were absolute and Irrevocable.

There is a feeling that when a man is sentenced to the penitentiary for life, or for 10 or 20 years he will in time gain his freedom through a parole. I never signed a petition for a parole and will never sigh one. If men sent to the penitentiary for life or for definite terms were forced to serve their full sentences there Listen Through Holes in Roof vate in Lovat a Scouts, a Scotch cavalry com Restoration Step Backward. mand, was promoted from First Lieutenant to Captain about two months before the armistice. He tells this story of the winning of his pro motion: would be less incentive to lynch law.

When a man "I was sent in command of a company to take goes to the penitentiary now there is always a feeling that sooner or later friends or politicians over a new part of the line, on the River Scheldt, in Belgium. Another battalion had been this line, but when we got up, I learned that this other battalion had been forced back across the river. "Men at the front are very susceptible to re-I liglous work. I was at the front as a fighter, not "i chaplain, but I was privileged to speak to mnT meetings of soldiers, seldom less than I 1000 together. At the big base camp of Etaples, I where the meetings were announced by a big signboard, there were more than 1000 every night nine nights, and some listened- through holes I 'a the root I tried to give them the plain foepel.

"Every night, SO or 60 men, both churched and I tachurched in their former lives, would respond to the appeal for enlistment in the religious life. That takes courage. I have been 12 times or more over the top. so I know what I am talking about when I say that it takes more cour- Me to take a stand for the first time In re-Htfon than it takes to climb out of a trench into No Man's Land. The old fundamentals of the goBpel were "Our commander.

Gen. Sir Horace Plumer, had 100 homicides were committed here during the aame period, but none had paid a death penalty, St. Louis Is perhaps a fifth of the ir.e 1 xni -don, and this example serve to show the won-derfully deterrent force of capita! said that this position must be held at all costs, CHARLES P. JOHNSON, oldest criminal practitioner in St. Louis, said: "The restoration of capital punishment in Missouri would be a step backward in the line of humane progress.

It would be deeply regretted by all who. take an Interest in questions affecting social conditions. "All great social science students and criminologists have condemned as useless the practice of capital punishment for the accomplishment ot any good. They have shown conclusively that it is harmful in its results. "The main apology for its infliction is to prevent others from committing crime.

Therein is a great fallacy. Experience has proven to the contrary. It encourages cruelty and barbarity. No good can come out of it. but rather much evil.

It would be an avowed retrogression. No Time to Judge Now, Says Lamm. JUDGE HENRY LAMM of Scdalia, former Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court, said: "I am Inclined to the belief that weaebould Although I had not been responsible for losing it, it was up to me to get it back. I saw, too. that If I did not recover" the position at night, I "I believe every man who makes a business of crime figures on the punishment he will get If be is caught.

In the Court of Criminal Correction, where I one presided. 1 found It was the custom to fine men conducting lotteries 10. They cared nothing for this fine and lottery games i flourished throughout the city. Tbey paid their fines Bnd offended agaiu. I adopted a rule to increase these fines at each succeeding offense Crime of Murder Increasing.

will let him out and the law will thus be cheated." Tuttle "Stands on Scriptures." BISHOP DANIEL S. TUTTLE of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Missouri and presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, said: "I am and always have been for capital punishment as the only just penalty for the crime of murder. It stands squarely on the scripture, which s2ys that whosoever sheds the blood of man, his blood shall be shed also. It Is the only way to punish the taking of human life. University Head for CHANCELLOR FREDERIC A.

HAUL, of Washington University, "I am heartily in would have to attack for it the next day. That would have meant a loss of 200 men. "So, with four or five men, I went over, and we drove the Huns out of their first position k.m it with two men. and sent back two. who until I got offenders up to a point where it was JUDOE JOHN W.

CALHOUH, Division Xo. It, Circuit Court for Criminal Cues, aaid. "Since tho law abolishing rillal punishment was repealed. It seem to me, the, rime of murder has been on the increase. Mtt murders oecjsf while men are engaged in the aet of eetamftL' another crime, wlme the Oontlaaed i.

summoned about 30 men as reinforcements. unprofitable for them to do business. Then the lottery business was stamped out. It Is the same In everything else. Punishment must be fixed to suit the enormity of crime.

attacked farther on, and recaptured the whole po-iMnn with five casualties. When the facta as enough for the men at the front They didn't care for modern isms' mixed up with their feHgion. The same thing will be true of the eUlers, after they come back into civil life. Continued on Page Thirteen..