Show THAT BOSTON PETITION rr HE E PETITION to have hae Ozol sentence commuted to 1 1 life imprisonment which is being circulated by the Social Al Alliance Alliance liance of Boston though it may spring from entirely good motives is in extremely bad taste lo T those who ho bo are the infliction tion of the tho death penalty the argument that the tho ends of justice Jc he o vindication indication of the tho law and the higher interests of civilization will rill 10 Lc Ce better served by this change chan e in inthe the tho form of the tho penalty penal might have some seme weight But oven ov eV those these if they will ViII take the trouble To TO look into the tha question more de pl must admit the of the reasoning The Tho people of the tho state of Naw York r ork have established a law provid providing ing that the penalty for murder in inthe inthe n the first degree shall be bo death in inthe inthe inthe the electric cJ chair In crimes what there thore are lire mitigating circumstances the ends of justice aro are often better bett r rs served s red if it be tempered with mercy But no such plea can be made in inthe inthe inthe the case of Czolgosz He Ho has bas be bon n guilty of tho the highest crime possible Compared w th the tho atrocity of his act ordinary murder is made insignificant insignificant Even Evon the tho most charitable can find for the wretch wr not a single excuse His deed was prompted ty pure pue fiendishness undiluted by DY a s single extenuating circumstance For Governor Odell Odoll to ozet oC his power of clemency in this case ease would establish a n precedent for the comm i 1 tation of the sentence of every mur dver dor dl er that might hereafter be found guilty by the courts of New York and o e could not with any regard to common decency refuse It would be manifestly unjust to show clem clorn clemency clemency ency to t the greatest of criminals while letting tho the lessor lesser ones suffer tha the extreme penalty Consequently the petition of the thc Boston Bosto society resolves itself into a request that the governor of New Now NewYork NewYork York nullify a law established by the people For such an act there can be no justification Nothing is moro more disastrous to the good order of a commonwealth than uncertainty in inthe inthe inthe the execution of its laws especially of those against grave crimes There Thero are many who believe the death penalty wrong many who think it right Some states where whore it was abandoned have returned to it iL But whether proper or improper the question is one that only the law lawmaking lawmaking lawmaking making representatives of the slate are competent to deride derid de id Where they have decided one ono way way wa it is tho the duty of f the courts and the ilia executive to obey |