Part 2
We are not living under the law of Moses in this day and age of the world, neither are we justified by the law, but we are living in a different dispensation. Paul says the law of Moses was a law of bondage, and through Jesus Christ we are free from that bondage. The law of Moses and the prophets were until John (Luke 16:16), and we now live in the dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and nowhere does he give men the privilege of making and enforcing laws that would make the taking of man’s life justifiable. We do not read the instructions of Jesus Christ to be “Life for life, eye for eye, and tooth for tooth,” neither by way of rendering the sentence of the law upon those who have taken the life of their fellow man, nor by acting upon the impulse in taking revenge for personal offence or injury. In speaking of the law of Moses and what was written concerning the people of olden times, Jesus in that memorable sermon on the mount said: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”—Matt. 5:38, 39. Jesus Christ taught the law of love, even taught that we should love our enemies and do good to them that hate us and despitefully use us. He taught that people should show mercy to their fellow men. Even when wicked Cain slew his brother Abel because of a slight offence, and though he feared that men would put him to death, God gave him to understand that he would not have him put to death, but that he should be protected from such a penalty, although his hands were stained with his brother’s blood.
In Galatians 5:4 Paul gave the people to understand that they were not justified by the law of Moses; he said: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” Neither are people justified in the sight of God for making and enforcing laws that will take the life of their fellow men. Merely quoting the words, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed,” will not remove the guilt. To call such lawmaking and enforcement heathenism does not give full expression to the subject; nay, it is barbarism in the extreme. Some may severely criticize these terms and the views expressed here, but we fearlessly assert that such is truth. We are glad to know that a few states in our so-called land of liberty have become awakened on this line and refuse to make or enforce such a law. Those who still try to hide behind the law of Moses, why not carry out that law in full and stone to death every man or woman who breaks the Sabbath?
There is another side to the picture. It is sometimes the case that a man who is put to death is innocent of the crime for which he is charged. Whether innocent or guilty, a great number of those thus punished pass into eternity unsaved. With many of them it has been an act performed on the impulse of the moment. Their former lives, perhaps, have been upright, viewing them from a standpoint of morality. Again, it is often the case that a family is left in a critical condition to battle for life with this cold world. A delicate wife with helpless children must thus be weighed down in sorrow and bereavement, poverty staring them in the face, crushed with shame and disgrace, with no one to provide for them and no help nor special protection from the state whose laws have forever removed the one to whom they looked for maintenance and protection.
LIFE IMPRISONMENT.
Life imprisonment is an unjust sentence. Life prisoners are those who have received their sentence for murdering a fellow being. In many cases, however, they can not really be classed as criminals. They are victims of circumstances. The deed was not premeditated but was brought about on the impulse of the moment. The sentence of a lifelong imprisonment forever deprives of the liberties of freedom and the association of friends and relatives, and the only hope of freedom is an escape, then to remain a fugitive from justice. Mr. Meade in his report suggests that the life prisoner should be allowed the same privilege of commutation or short time as is given other prisoners, and in this give him a hope of release. There are tables which insurance companies use (and they are supported by the courts) which fix an average limit of years of the existence of a man, computing from the first year; the interval beyond the present age naturally decreasing as old age approaches. He says: “It would seem that these tables furnish a foundation on which a system for life prisoners should be based. For instance, a man twenty years of age is convicted of murder and sentenced to prison for life. Our tables show that the average number of years for a man of that age still to live is approximately thirty-four. Figuring the legal commutation on this term of thirty-four years, we find the prisoner would be compelled to serve about twenty-three years of solid time. A man thirty years old would on the same basis, having about thirty years to live, serve eighteen years; a man forty years old, having about twenty-five years to live, would serve sixteen years in prison. Thus we might continue our observations indefinitely.”
My views of this matter may be severely criticised, nevertheless we do not consider that five years is unreasonably short for the first offence of murder. This releases the innocent man who may have been sentenced through circumstantial evidence or otherwise by false accusation. It is a long sentence for a man who has acted on the impulse of the moment or in a fit of anger; and even to the one who has premeditated the crime, five years of hard labor and proper training in a prison will be an impressive lesson to cause him not to repeat the act. For a second offence it should not be more than ten or fifteen years, and even for a third offence it would not be out of reason to give him the life sentence with the regular commutation. This reasoning may to many at first thought seem ridiculous, but upon proper consideration we should remember that as long as there is life there is hope, and while there is a possibility of reformation a man should have some kind of a chance; not only a chance to reform, but a chance to enjoy his liberty. Even after he has served two or three terms he is not then a worse character and not more dangerous to a community than thousands of others who are just as guilty but have not suffered the penalty of the law. When a man has served according to the penalty here suggested, has he not suffered sufficient to satisfy the law? and should we not be willing to allow him the privileges of liberty and to enjoy life once more? It is a hard heart indeed that will place a man behind prison-bars for life. In England there is a possibility of being set at liberty after twenty years, on account of good behavior. There needs to be a radical change in our laws on this line.
THE DUNGEON.
This is the dreaded place of all prisons and in many places resorted to oftener than necessary. Many prisoners who work in the mines have had to go to the dungeon without their supper after laboring hard all day, because ungodly and wicked guards reported a shortage in the proper amount of coal mined, when the facts of the case were that the guards had stolen or removed a portion of the coal from the car after it left the prisoner, because of their dislike for the prisoner and by so doing could have him punished. It also too often happens that prisoners refuse to work as they should, and deserve the punishment. It is not necessary to here describe the filthy, stifling, odorous dungeons of war times or of some of the worst prisons of the day, but a description of the dungeon of one of the best prisons in our land will be sufficient. The following is a description given by one who served a term in prison. In describing the punishment to secure good discipline, he said:
“To me these contingency dungeons are, as their name implies, dark, with similarity to an ordinary cell with the exception of a door which in the common cell contains open spaces for the admission of light, but the dark cell admits no light, and not a sufficient quantity of air. There is no furniture in this dark cell. While undergoing punishment if a prisoner desires to rest he can do so by reclining on the stone floor. No refractory prisoner ever grows corpulent while confined in these dark cells, as he receives only one meal of bread and water in twenty-four hours. The prisoner is often kept in one of these cells from eight to ten days. Sleep is almost impossible. When a prisoner enters the dungeon he is required to leave behind him his coat, cap, and shoes. During the winter months it is often very cold in these cells, requiring the prisoner to walk up and down the dungeon in his stocking feet to prevent his freezing, and this for a period of ten days in nearly every instance compels submission. After the dark cells thaw out in the summer months they are excessively hot. Sometimes in winter the temperature is below zero, and in summer it often rises to 100 degrees. They are then veritable furnaces. Generally after the prisoner undergoes a freezing or baking process for eight or ten days, he is willing to behave himself in the future. They are sometimes so reduced and weakened that when brought out of the dark cell they can scarcely walk without aid. I have seen them reel to and fro like drunken men. They are often as pale as death. In many cases the prisoner contracts cold which later on terminates fatally, and this is one of the principal objections to this mode of punishment. If the prisoner in the mine does not get out his regular weekly task of coal, on Saturday he is reported to the deputy sheriff by the officer in charge and is sent to the blind cell before supper and kept there until the following Monday morning, when he is taken out and sent to his work in the mines. While in there he gets only bread and water once in twenty-four hours. This is a great inducement to work, which certainly prevents criminals from shirking their labor, and soon converts the lazy tramp into a hustling coal miner. If being in this dark cell ten days and nights is insufficient to subdue a rebellious spirit of the convict he is taken out and placed in the solitary cell. This is similar to the ordinary cell with the exception that it contains no furniture. Here the convict remains on bread and water until he is starved almost to death or until he is willing to submit and do his work as ordered.”
[Illustration: The Cat-o’nine-tails]
CAT-O’-NINE-TAILS.
A few years ago while visiting an Indiana penitentiary the warden said that some years before they used the cat-o’-nine-tails in punishing their prisoners, but had discarded that mode of punishment. There are men both in prison and out of prison who carry furrows and scars on their backs caused by the deep flesh wounds of the cat-o’-nine-tails. This is a whip with lashes some of which have wire interwoven so as to cut the flesh with every stroke. The poor prisoner must bare his back and be chained or shackled to a post and beaten by a merciless officer, who is often only too glad to wreak his vengeance in that way. It is yet the case in many prisons and stockades that a similar punishment is inflicted with the exception of not so many lashes, and a strap is sometimes used, from two to four inches wide, made by sewing two pieces of harness leather together. The same is perforated, soaked in water over night, and dipped in the sand. This, when vigorously applied to the bare flesh, causes the most excruciating pain. This is not in the least overdrawing the picture of what is constantly put into practice at the present time.
BUCK-AND-GAGGED.
This is another dreadful punishment which is still in vogue in some places. The prisoner is taken and handcuffed, his hands slipped over in front of his knees and sometimes a stick passed through just under his knees and over his wrists, his mouth opened ofttimes by force, and filled with a large cork or piece of wood, and left in this condition until life is almost extinct. This punishment is serious and is apt to make the prisoner revengeful instead of making him feel that he has been justly punished.
THE LOCK-STEP MARCH.
[Illustration: The Lock-step March]
The lock-step march is a humane punishment, yet when continued a great length of time is very tiresome. Prisoners who have been guilty of some trivial offence during the week, and who are not otherwise punished, are generally called upon to fall in line and proceed to the open square of the prison, and there while the other prisoners are resting or at chapel exercises they must keep in constant motion in the lock-step march. This punishment is not as severe as some others, yet it is not a desirable punishment, especially when the others are all enjoying a rest or comfortably seated in the chapel during religions services. When the hundreds of prisoners are gathered in the chapel on Sunday morning and comfortably seated, the warden or some other officer reads the names of those who are to join in the lock-step march. It is not for them to retaliate nor plead their innocence, neither wait to be told the second time. As soon as their names are called they must immediately rise and as the last name is called they are all marched out to the prison yard and there begin their tiresome march. Some who have committed greater offences must walk in front and carry heavy bars of iron. This punishment is given to stimulate them to observe the proper rules and discipline of the prison.
LITERARY PRIVILEGES.
The literary privileges are so widely different in the various prisons throughout the land that it would be very difficult to render the proper information. There are some penitentiaries, and especially the stockades of the South, without libraries, and many prisoners even serve a term without being granted any educational privileges whatever, either by way of literary work or reading of good books. It is more difficult in the stockades to give the literary privileges than in other established prisons. However, there are states with established penitentiaries that have not provided the same with libraries and proper literary accommodations. On the other hand, many of the penitentiaries have established schools wherein prisoners can obtain a fair education. For instance, the Michigan state prison more than twenty-five years ago established graded schools, and all prisoners who have not a fair education are required four evenings of the week to attend these schools for an hour and a half. In this way the prisoner is not only benefited, but it brings him under a new line of discipline that enables the officer in charge to become familiar with his mental condition and capabilities and more fully understand the dispositions of those under his charge. Men who are thus drilled and properly cared for, after going through this discipline day after day, cause less trouble to those in charge. In the prisons where the most humane reformative system of management is used there can be many things brought to bear upon the minds of the prisoners that will tend to elevate them and fit them for the higher circles of society. By the proper treatment and privileges they will soon learn to have a taste for literary work. A few prisons give the prisoners the privileges of general literary work, such as delivering orations, recitations, essays, debates, etc. These things, while they educate and develop the mind, have a tendency to divert the mind of the prisoner from the feelings of disgrace and the deplorable situation; and instead of spending hours brooding in despondency it awakens an activity of the mind and new thoughts for consideration during the solitary hours.
Every prison should supply each cell with a Bible. Many do this while others do not. The prisoners should also have access to the library and permission to call for any book in the library. Where they are thus looked after it is the duty of certain prisoners to go to each cell and learn what book is desired for the coming week and to take up the one which was in their possession during the past week. These requests are taken to the librarian and the books selected and distributed according to number. Prisoners who mutilate or destroy the books in any way are denied the privilege of having a book to read for a few weeks. If the offence is repeated the punishment on this line is more severe and they are then neither allowed to receive a book or paper or are refused all privileges of the library and not even allowed to have paper or writing material to communicate with their friends. With most prisoners this is a severe punishment. One who has not been thus incarcerated or had to spend weeks and months in solitude can scarcely realize the value of good books to read under such circumstances. But he who has had the actual experience knows just how to appreciate such a privilege.
During the civil war a number of Union men made a daring raid through the Confederate line and were afterward captured and cast into dungeons where they spent weeks of suffering, amid heart-rending scenes, and notwithstanding their extreme hunger, thirst, and the stifling odor of their dark underground prison and suffering much from their shackles and clanking chains, they were taken from place to place and then brought to trial. Seven of their number were hanged, leaving about a dozen remaining who were expecting to be called out to follow in their footsteps at any time. Through some sudden change or maneuver of war the remainder of these men were left in prison with guards over them and only a meager supply of food. As the seven of their comrades were taken from their midst to the place of execution those who remained were in much distress of mind. During the morning hours before this they had spent the time in playing cards, now and then an oath escaping their lips, but now the scene changed. Some one suggested that they should pray. There was but little hope of them escaping the fate of their comrades and thus soon be hurled into eternity, and what added more to the darkness of the hour was the fact that they had not made their peace with God. One of the surviving party describes the occurrence as follows:
“From this time forward we had religious exercises morning and evening and found them a great consolation and support. We began and closed the day right and thus added sweetness to all its hours, supplying a subject of thought not bearing directly upon our future gloomy prospects and thus enabling us to maintain better mental health. We always sang a hymn or two on these occasions. We sang ‘Rock of Ages,’ ‘Jesus, Lover of my Soul,’ and others of a pronounced spiritual cast. This greatly astonished the guards. They were given strict charge to watch us closely with the statement that we were the most desperate characters in the whole United States. Then to hear us singing ‘hymns’ and know that we had prayer morning and evening was a contradiction they found hard to reconcile.... What would we not now have given for the counsels and assistance of a minister whom we could fully trust! Just how to be religious was the puzzle. I know if I had a command to execute from an army officer I would do it, if in my power, no matter how difficult or dangerous, and I wished intensely that it was just as easy to be religious as to be a soldier; but there was the question of right feelings and right motives that did not seem to come into play very much in the army. For if a soldier did his duty he was not apt to be asked how he felt about it. I had the belief that I must have joy and rapture in thinking of death and readiness to shout God’s praises, which I did not feel; and for a time it seemed as if I could not reach a genuine conversion. I diligently read the Bible which we had borrowed, and while I enjoyed many things in it, little direct guidance for me was found. I asked counsel of our captain for whom I had the greatest esteem and respect, but it was so easy for him to believe that I thought his case must be very unlike my own, so I spoke to another one of our company, the only one of our number who had a clear religious faith, and seemed to be happy in it. His first answer was very striking. I asked how he felt about death. He thought I referred to our worldly prospect, and answered that probably we would soon all be put to death. ‘But what is your feeling about death itself?’ I continued. He said, ‘I am not afraid to die if it is God’s will. I trust him now and I expect to trust him to the last.’