Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1890 — ELECTRICITY SUSTAINED. [ARTICLE]

ELECTRICITY SUSTAINED.

Chief Justice Fuller Sm* it Shall Kill Keinmler. The Supreme Court of the United States od the 33d denied the application for a writ of error in the case of Kemmler, under sentence of death by electricity. Chief-Justice Fuller delivered the opinion denying the motion for the writ of error and habeas corpus. The opinion is a lengthy one and gave evidence of careful preparation. It called attention to the fact that the Constitution of the State of New York and that of the United States i are almost identical. The Legislature of New York, after a careful examination of all questions oonnecled with the proposition for the utilization of electricity as a method for producing death, had decided that it is not more cruel than methods here, toforo employed and recognized by law but a more humane method. The Legislature has a right to determine the method of punishment which shall be inflicted upon those violating its laws, provided the method does not interfere with the rights of persons under the Constitution of tho United States. After the matter had beejt fully examin. ed and acted upon by the Legislature the case was taken up by the courts, and examined in detail in all its features iu the light- of the beat expert t j la t could be had. It bad been carried from oue court to auother, and reached the highest judicial bodies of the State with the same opinion in each court sustaining the constitutionality of the law and finding that the method of execution is not cruel The Chlef-Justico discussed the relation 0 f the fourteenth amendment to the constitution to the rights of citizens, but held that it does not warrant interference Such manual and cruel punishment as burning at the stake, disemboweling or torture would not be recognized by the law of civilized nations, but there seems to have been no evidence before tbe courts or the Legislature to warrant the conclusion that this form of death proposed was cruel in a greater degree than that recognised by the constitution aud’aocepted as the law of the land. As Kemmler’s crime was committed after the date at which the act was to take effect no sufficient reason is urged or found for a writ of error, and it is -therefore denied. ’