Hide Article Text (OCR)
j Through the kindness of the Clerk of the Penitentiary, vre are enabled to furnish the number of life prisoners in the c State's prisou, and the Couuties from ( which they were sent. We omit publishing the names of the convicts for the , reason that we do not wish to injure the feelings of their surviving relatives, or open afresh the wounds of sorrow which time may have partially healed.There are now living in the prison,J sixty-four convicts, who arc serving out i ‘ life-time sentences.. From 8tark County I ; 1; barren 2; Hamilton IS; Washington j j 1; Williams 1; Seneca 1; Morrow 1; Cuyahoga 7; Franklin 2; Mahoning 1; Clin-1 ! ton 1; Greene 2; Lucas 5; Ashtabula 1; i Jefferson 1; Vinton 1; Adams 1; Pieka-1j way 1; Licking 1; Morgan 2; Marion 1; I ! Sandusky 1; Jackson 4; Coshocton 1; ! .. [ Miami 1; Portage 1; Scioto 1; Gallia 1; jLawrence 1. There are three out ! writs of error, having had new trials j granted. Two of these are from Tlamil-I ton and one from Putnam county—which would make the number now under sentence for life sixty-seven. lt;)f the above six are negroes and mulattocs, ’and [ twenty foreigners. One of the number has been confined 24 years, one 17, oue j 14. two 13, one 12, one 11, three 10, one ! 7, six (5, five 5, eleven 4; five 3, nine 2, — and ten less than one year.1 4 j Of the above number teu are liope-| lcssly insane, and others verging upon l*l | insanity, and we think four insane pris-| oners have died within two years. From jr this fact it appears that life imprison-1 incnt has an inevitable tendency to insanity, if the prisoner has mind enough to be crushed. We have had some reflections on this matter, and propose here merely to glauee at the subject and leave it to those who are more competent to do justice to a theme of such magnitude, and fraught with so much interest to mankind.The design of punishment is two fold: first, the protection of society; second, the reformation of the offender. To secure this two fold result, criminals are imprisoned for a period of time intended to be in proportion to the magnitude of the offense. Some are incarcerated for one, or a term of years, and some for life—and now we wish to ask the question, do life sentences protect society, and reform the subjects of them? We answer negatively. Punishment protects society by removing the vicious from it, and operating upon the fears of .those who have not, as yet, entered upon a course of crime, and so restraining them from transgression.The punishment for murder is designed to prevent that crime, but imprisonment for life does not, adequately, do this, for it always leaves the criminal with the hope that the punishment may be shortened, either by executive clemency or the exercise of sharpened ingenuity.— Wc are certain that not one of the lifetime convicts now confined came to the prison expecting to die there, and perhaps there is not one rational one but that still hopes to be restored to liberty. Consequently, though the sentence be for life, in the estimation of the convicts, as well as those who meditate murder, it means only a term of years. The Judgc who sentences a man convicted of mur-to imprisonment for life, seldom, if •,does it under a realizing sense that the doomed one will remain in “durance vile,” until the vital spark goes out, and in pronouncing sentence upon the guilty, he alludes to the possibility of an escape from the full vigor of the terrible scu-tenee. For this, and other reasons, a life-ae sentence means only a term of years the estimation of those unfortunates whose strong passions have been aroused, whom the demon clamored for blood. With this idea impressed upon his mind, the prisoner enters upon his dreadful servitude. Ilia thoughts are wholly occupied with it by night and by day. He spends some time in suspense. His friends then may make an effort to have him pardoned, but do not succeed. His mind is then called into activity to form some plan of escape—he tries, and tries again—but his plaus are all frustrated. How faint then is the prospect that men thus situated will reform!— Spread before them truths of the greatest importance, and to them they are idle tales, unless they are connected with their freedom. Speak to them in words of burning eloquence concerning a future state, and the necessity for a preparation therefor, and they will reply: release me from this place—give me freedom—and then I will prepare for the future.No one can conceive of the intensity of the desire for freedom on the part of these convicts, save those who are conversant with them. That desire is with the last lingering thought that yields when sleep begins, and it mingles with their dreams, and in the first waking to consciousness it is there with all its vividness—it is interwoven with all their thoughts and purposes—and there it will remain, absorbing everything else, until all hope of a release expires; and then, instead of repenteuce, there will be derangement—monomania.If the above hasty review of the question be correct, then it follows that imprisonment for life neither protects society nor reforms the criminal, and, consequently fails to secure the result of punishment. What then shall be done? This question opens a vast field for discussion. Who will enter, explore and return laden with truth, and hlei world?Cultivation of Temper.If happily we are born of a good nature; if a liberal education has formed in us a generous temper and disposition, well regulated appetites and worthy inclinations, ’tiswell for us, and so indeed we esteem it. But who is there endeav-j ors to give these to himself, or to ,rs vance his portion of happiness in this j kind? Who thinks of improving, oejr much of preserving his share, in a world where it must of necessity run so great la hazard, and where we know an hones! *‘c j nature is so easily corrpted? All otlie *)C I things relating to us are preserved with i care, and have some act or economy hern- longing to them; this which is ne:I.” ! related to us, on which our happi al-: depends, is alone committed to cha w- and temper is the only thing uugove w- while it governs all the rest.B@„The depth of the artesian well at rot i Columbus is 2,575 feet. By means of; p he ' a registering thermometer, it has been ;y. I ascertained that the temperature at that [ ke | depth is 88 deg. Fahrenheit. Taking ; if other similar experiments for a basis, j , this would show the increase of tcmpera-.p ture to be at the rate of 1 deg. for every 1 ■iventy feet descending. The artesian well at Louisville shows an increase of! T n 1 deg. for every sixty-seven leet. The, increase observed in sinking theGrenclle te- well at Paris was 1 deg. for fifty-eight p. ry feet. In the artesian well at Mondorf, mt on the frontier of France and Luxem- ® ey bonrg, the water at a depth of 2,200feet, ch had a temperature of 93 deg. Fahrenheit, J to- showing an increase of 1 deg. for fifty-four ficct, B
Newspaper Details
Pomeroy Weekly Telegraph
Pomeroy, Ohio, US
Tue, Aug 21, 1860
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Linda R.
USA 25 Jun 2024
Other Publications Near Pomeroy, Ohio
Pomeroy Weekly Telegraph
Meigs County Telegraph
