| Show LEGAL PENALTIES THE severity ot of the pu punishment inflicted flirted upon a pris prisoner r W r as been convicted of a public i i cannot in many cases be r estimated from thel the length eph of the t m of imprisonment or 9 4 e fine to which he 1 is 0 court A striking illustration of the truth of this statement is furnished by the case of harper in an officer of the fidelity bank of cincinnati the failure ot of this bank created a great ar in financial circles about two years ago harper used its funds with which to speculate in wheat and disaster attending his bis illegitimate ventures the bank failed for a vast sum and harper was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of years he was as a bra iny and ambitious ambitions mau aw and was devotedly attached to his wife and family ris his realization of tiis als position and the mental ui anguish which he suf suffered ferea in consequence of it were as much greater than ihan those of a common thief meeting a similar fate as his bis intellect was greater hen ban that of the ordinary criminal lie he has onita only been in prison about a year yet has 8 lost his bis reason he imagines ima jines that he be is communication hr with heavenly beings and that he has the power to foretell future events he to is but forty years of age and should be in the enjoyment of his bis highest powers but agony of mind has aas seated a phantom on the throne of reason and he who was called the napoleon of finance has become a gib bering lunatic we are not objecting to the sentence sea tence upon him many maby a man in the same community has received a heavier one for stealing Bg a minute traction fraction of the sum which he be unlawfully appropriated rom funds entrusted to him DY by nn i suspecting edg depositors his crime i c carried Sp poverty and distress into many a home and counting room and it was right that the law laev should be vindicated and that he should safer the points we make are that a man othis temperament pe would suffer more in is serving erving i a sentence of days than many criminals criminale would were they condemned to confinement as many years and that courts ought in passing sentence to exercise wisdom and discretion in measuring the punishment they are meting out from the standpoint indicated by the case of harper as well as by other rules for estimating what justice requires in a given case always remembering what a blessed quality Is 19 mercy |
