North Carolina Newspapers

THE DEATH PENALTY AND HOLY WRIT (Published by requc.-t.) Following is an .-.duress by Pi Hughes on the subject of "I n. a. ip'.tal ; Punishment," before the county mcu K,.i.tv sit I homix, Ariz. It was of special interest on the eve of mmnaiLMi for the abolition ot m death penally in Arizona: W Toastmaster and Gentlemen of the Profession: Just why your pro gram committee should ask me to de liver an address on the subject of cap ital punishment at a meeting like this and a festal occasion where the speech ts are usually ronival in nature, 1 hardlv understand. However, as it is his command and mine to obey, I Will r-ive vou a fow thoi-guts n subject- of 'Thou Shait Not t"L c.i,.n,-v with which Kill (his one latelv. would St a one 4 ki;.v.. thnt some of our "learned k-wl Vi.en reading th-: Bible, v ere i if not that they get so bad y "'ixetl inj the mmlication of this commandment., What is meant oy u . i'o that "Thou Shalt Not Kill for Food . Poes it mean "Thou Shalt Not Kill Wild ami Ferocious Animals?" No: for the same great Law-giver directs that these shall be killed. Then does it mean that men shall not be execut ed for crime? It certainly does not thing of the kind, for the mean an same Law-giver tells us tnat this shall be done, and prescribes the va rious ways of taking the murderer. of the For the benefit of these gentlemen j Kngiand where few murderers who iiote this one commandment so escape execution, the crime of mur giibiy, 1 will give a few quotations ,iPr is rare inded. The courts did not foum'l'w ithin a few pages of this one. (cr is rare. The courts did not civilize in the same book and given by the Caifovnia. When ! bad men were hung tame Law-giver thiough which this from the pier at one time, San Fran commandment is given. It says: cisco was made so a man could walk -Whoso killeth any person, the mur- ,;0vn the street without much fear of derer shall be put to death." (Num- being slugged and robbed. In Fresno tors "". W). Moreover. "Ye shall county life and property were unsafe, take no satisfaction for the life of a A few vigilantees found a partly om munlerer vhich is guilty of death, pleted frame house, a good gallows, but he shall surely be put to deith. and five people were hung one moon The land can not be clearseil of the light night; then people did not have Moid ihat i; hed thei-ir.. 1 .,t the to stand guard over their horses at blood of him that shed it." (Num- night. Everyone who know s anything tors :!", Ml). In another place th. about the early settlement of the Tex same Law-giver says "Thou shalt not as frontier, knows that it was not the consent unto him nor hearken him, courts that put a stop to horse-steal-nor conceal him, but thou shalt surely ing and cattle rustling. Even our kill him. Thou shalt stone him till he own city was made mueh safer to dies.1' (Deut. 8). )Deut. 19. 11), live in after two murderers were again he says, "But if any man hate, his neighbor and lie in wait for him and rise up against him and smite him mortally till he die. then the el-1 tiers of the city shall send and fetch ' h'm thence and deliver him unto the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die." ( Peut. 21. 22). , Aeain. "If a man have committed ! a sin worthy of death and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree," etc, etc. (Deut 21. 22), "And if he smite him with an in strument of iron, so that he die, he is murderer. The murderer shall purely be put to death. Or if he smite him with an hand weapon of wood wherewith he may die, he is a mur- derer. The murderer thall surely be put to death. Or. if in enmity he smite him with his hand, that he die. he that smote him shall be surely put to death, for he is a murderer." (Numbers :ifi. 16-21). Many more flotations might he given from the book that says "Thou Shalt Not Kill." which proves beyond a doubt that murder, and not execution of a mur derer is meant. Now, would it not be fair for the gentlemen who attempt to quote scripture in order to bolster up a pre-conceived motion that they have nurtured until it ha.s become a good sized fad, to not take every one else to be as ignorant of the book as they themselves seem to be. They attempt to quote Christ, and show the same ignorance of his teachings as of the teaching of Moses. An ex-governor says that Moses went over into the land of Canaan and killed nearly all the people there, while the book teaches that Moses was only permitt ed to view the land from Pisgah's heights. Christ taught that the wages of sin is death; he taught the doctrine of eternal punishment, which is more se vere than hanging by the neck until dead. He taught in almost every sentence the law of rewards and pun ishments. He gave us the parable of the unworthy servant. The law of re ward and punishments is a part of every nature, the babe at mother's breast is taught that if it does right it will be rewarded by kisses and caresses, if it does wrong it will get a spanking. The trainers of lower animals accomplish results in the same way. Man should do right be cause it is right, he should refrain from doing wrong because it is wrong, and some people make that the rule of life. We hope the day will come when all will do likewise, but when they do it will be that glorious day when the lion and lamb shall lie down together without the lamb be ing inside the lion. Some say that because crime is in creasing (especially murders) it proof positive that capital punishment 4ces not deter the crisaiital. I he 1 iv,- that evorv one who has given the matter worthy thought will de termine t once that it is the man ner in which our laws are executed That is reversible for the increase in erim: or rathe" the lack of execu tion. It is my humble judgment that j it every one v:.; r.unu " ! ted the crime of murder the hang i .r. ,1,1 voon take a rest. The t.1.in,i.,.,1 in vtm has 11-12 the advan- , tajre to begin w ith. Suppose a man commits a cold-blooded mur.ier; ne is arrested and tried before an examin ing court; if it says he is guilty, he is bound over to the grand jury. There, until lately in this state, three men out of eighteen could release him from custody. There he has three against fifteen. The case goes before the district or superior court, and the challenges he has of jurors often makes the ease a farce. Then when the twelve men hear the evidence one man can hang the jury in his favoi and the case will probably never be retried he is scott free on one man's vote, although eleven nun vote him ujitv. iut suppose he is found gui Thp js laJ.en before the su- oreme court and on some technicality he is given a new trial. Fy time tor the new trial some ef the important witnesses are gone and he is Ireed. Put suppose he is found guilty and sentenced to hang, some governor i with more sentiment than regard for . law, by one dash of his pen sets him . at liberty. And this is the history of many: the murderer, having succeeded in thwarting the law once, is more .bold in crime, because he feels that ' he has just learned the combination. strung up to the old cottonwood tree that stood w here the big cannon now is. The hope of reward will stir the s,'ouis 0f many people to good deeds, but shall we be so narrow-minded as to lose sight of the other part of the same law, the fear of punishment? Puring the first year of the reign of Queen Victoria there were four at tempts on her life, and some of the assailants were tried for insanity. Parliament met and passed an act providing for the speedy execution of any one who attempted to take the life of the queen, and from that time to the day of her death no one made an attack on her. The immortal Lee told his son that the greatest word in the English lan guage was "duty;" some smaller men seem to think that sympathy for the criminal stands away above it in the scale of words. Certainly every man would dislike to take another's .life, yet any man should be willing to dis cl.arg" his duty, if U- it case is in i line. The first effect of capital pun ishment is to deter others from com mitting murder; the second effect is to protect society from such inhuman persons; the third is to prevent men from taking such things into thei own hands, without process of law For instance, suppose you had a love ly daughter, enjoying your own fire side, where she is supposed to be safe from all attacks, and a villian creeps up to her window and blows out her brains with a shot-gun, spattering her blood and brains over the mother who rave her birth; then suppose that in stead of hanging him the court should give him a life sentence, where he would bask in Arizona sunshine, play games, be well fed, and nurse the idea that some man in authority would decide that it was too bad to keep him a prisoner on the state and tell hi to go free; how many fathers with red blood in their veins would not take their gun and go man-hunting. I contend that if one-half the maudlin blubbering over the poor criminal were expended in trying to see that our laws were enforced there would be a more wholesome respect for our courts and official and crime would diminish. A murderer is usually coward, and while he has no fear of imprisonment would quake at the thought of the rope. It will be remembered that the would-be murderer of Colonel Roose velt followed him through several states to shoot him In a state where he knew there was no capital punish ment. And again, no man will deny that a man had the right to kill in self-defense, and in the execution of a murderer the public is acting in self-defense. I sat not in possession of the late records f tit Arizona penitentiary. lm t 1 do know that only a few years ago the actual time of a lifetim- r's sentence in the territory va, then ! I years. I think it may be less lately, in the "pen" where one of the life-timers from Maricopa said recently, "We J are having a devil of a good time." Some governors in liberating crim inals, claim the promise of Christ, which is, "Messed are the merciful. I for they shall obtain mercy." It may be quite natural' for them to crave the mercy of Cod but they are very unmerciful to the public when they liberate criminals, and we are afraid by being unmerciful to the many put themselves in the box with the un merciful instead of the merciful. How many of the lower class of our citizens in Arizona have any fear of the law, as it is administered to day? They caie not for the hope of reward of good, living, and they have no fear of punishment. They might land in the pen, but there they would only be taught that the courts were very unjust that they did not de serve what they were getting, and that the conditions of society made t incumbent on them to steal or kill. As a man who has hail some observations of things in general, 1 think 1 can discern a cloud gathering on the horizon that will break forth in meting out justice to lawbreakers, in a way that promises effectiveness ami dispatch. The man that says that capital pun ishment does not deter the murderer must again look into the history of the past. Several states in the I'nion have tried to do away with it. and have been forced by the increase of murders to go back to it. Italy. Spain and France have all had a trial at it, and all have been forced to adopt it again. In one state crime in creased 2.10 per cent after abolishing capital punishment. There are plenty of such records available, and many more passages of scripture to show that "He that shoddeth man's blood, by man shall his ow n blood be shed," if only the truth is wanted. It is well for us to look forward to the time when the world shall rise to the sublime height of the fulfill ment of Christ's teaching of Roving our neighbor as ourselves, to play and work earnestly for that day's dawn ing: but it is also quite as important that we do not forget that we are yet on earth and have to deal with things as they are today; not let the idea of Arizona's progressiveness force us to progress backward by turning backward the hands on the dial of time. If our public officials should all use their best efforts toward the en forcement of the laws they were elect ed to execute, instead of the making of new laws and forcing their own much rnc-man power. Now that the slogan has irone forth, let the people le, why give one man po-ver to keep the people from ruling? Th,s one an power is not in the keeping with the spirit of the age. You say what would be done in case new evidence found? Let the case be re-tried before a court and twelve men. This power is a relic of the past, and has always been abused, the peo ple always getting the worst of it. If the power is to go back to the peo ple, let every citizen, regardless of color or sex, understand that it is their solemn duty to see that the laws are executed, and not set aside by the of ficials who have sworn to execute them. Let me illustrate. Suppose the peo pie bv a referendum vote, enact a law and at the same time elect a man known to be opposed to that law, to enforce it. In other words, sup pose a community vote dry. Then elect a saloon keeper to enforce the The rule of the people is right It is the right principle of democratic government The veio jm v er of pres ident or governor is the one man pow er. The pardoning power is greater than the voice of the people as ex pressed by all the courts. Let us do awav with both and let the people rule. Mr. Brvan has done the country an invaluable service in his continual ad vocacy of the rule of the people. His next duty is to instruct them in law enforcements. The wisest utterance of President Wilson was when he said that if ev ery man in the United States would read one chapter of the Bible each day and strive to follow its teachings most of the trouble of the nation would disappear, or words to that ef feci. I close with a quotation from the Editorial Review, from the pen of the bishop of Albany, Bishop Doane, and let me add, that of all the states in this Union, the abolition of capital punishment in Arizona would be most dangerous. Divided from a people who are making murder and crime a profession only by an imaginary line, it would be an invitation to Mexican murderers to come to Arizona, where their breed of unfortunates will be welcomed. Bishop Doane said: Genesis IX, 5-6 plainly sanctions the death penalty for murder. "And sure ly your blood of your lives will I re quire; at the hand of every beast will I require it and at the hand of every man's brother will I require the AN. INDIAN STORY One time in autumn the French and English were fighting to settle which would be the master of Texas. The Indians fought for the French. One evening two Haverhill boys were sent out in a field to work. When they were done they sat dow p to rest. There had not been a red.-kin seen for a month, but two redskin; an out of the underbrush and carried the boys off before they had time to r for help. The Indians did not wait, but set out for the North. Soon they came to the tribe where they belonged, but they decided not to stay for the winter. One of the boys got siek in the win r and if it had not been for an In an squaw he might have Hied. When the snow was almost gone, Isaac, one of the boys, heard an Indian say, "We will take the two palefaced boys to Canada a:id trade them off for guns ind powder." Isaac began to make plans to es ape. One day he took a gun and some orn and hid it in a hollow tree and old Joe that he was going. "But," he said, "I am afraid I can't take you, for you won't wake up." "Oh! yes, I rill, just pinch me and I will get ight up." Night came on, Isaac was wide awake." About midnight he pinched Joe and said, "I am goin'." Joe kept on snor- ng. Isaac went and got his provis ions and started out. He heard foot steps behind him. He looked around and saw it was Joe. At daybreak they rawled into a hollow log and were soon asleep. In the morning there was a lively time in the Indian camp. A gun and two boys were gone. The lians dashed into the woods after them. As soon as night came on the boys crawled out of the log and went on their way. Joe got sick and could not walk. Isaac made him a bed of leaves and said: "I will go on and see what I can find." He was not gone long till he came hack and said, "We are all right." So they went on and soon reached home. Vorie Lindemonn. (The boys were very fortunate to get away and Joe was not such a leeper after all. Of course they were w elcomed home with great joy. Aunt Sallie.) Miss Alda Nicholson, who has the distinction of being one of the very few lady mail carriers in the United States, will carry the mail no longer. She is to be married to W. V. Ferrell, of Duplin county. life of man, who sheddeth man's biood, by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made He man." It is somewhat curious confirma tion of the position that in the four states where capital punishment has been abolished, murders have stead ily increased. In Michigan, Iowa, Col orado and Rhode Island the legisla tures restored the death penalty af ter a short time, owing to the mark ed increase of crimes of violence. In Michigan this increase was as high as twenty-five hundred per cent and in Iowa, between 1872 and 1876 it was very rapid. In .New lorK state it was restored and a volumnious report to the legislature set forth the condi tions that called to a reverting to the death penalty. Abroad, the abolition has been followed by increased crime. In Switzerland, Austria and other European countries the temporary trial led to the readoption of the ear lier practice. It is, in my opinion, childish to confute the fallacy that the command- ments, 'Thou shalt not kill' and 'Thou shalt do no murder contradict the old Mosaic law. I really think it is time we contented ourselves with the fact that, whatever theories we may have, where there is a single plain revelation of God's law, we may be ab solutely certain to find no contradic tions of it in any other portion of the Bible, and that only harm can come from our disregard of it. if a person attempts to take away my life, I have, doubtless, a right to protect myself, and if I can not secure myself but by taking the life of my assailant, I have the right to take it. If men had the right to form society for mutual benefit and security, they had the right to punish other persons who would overthrow it. There is nothing more plainly taught in the Bible than capital pun ishment. Moses said that "The mur derer shall die." Christ did not con tradict that law in a single word or act, but taught that the "wages of sin is death." It is certain that Solomon had three murderers executed during the building of the temple, and it seems to me that, with these facts before us, the man who would- do away with capital punishment must consider himself a greater man than Moses, a wiser man than Solomon, and a better man than Crist. He must have read history with his eye closed. "Thou shalt not kill" certain' ly does not mean that a murderer shall not be executed. CARE OF THE ORCHARD The prices of farm products are so high it behooves every one to manage as host he can to reduce the cost of living. The orchard as a means of re ducing the cost of living is probably the best way the expenses can be re duced, especially in this section. Cultivation of the Orchard. There are two general methods of cultivation that may be practiced in cultivating the home orchard. On? is by growing cover crops, combined with the clean cultural method; an', the other is the cover crop system combined with the growing of some other crop in between the tree rows that will serve a useful purpose to the owner other than as a soil builder. The latter is the one that is most gen erally practiced, as most farmers want to get the largest returns from all parts of the farm. The time to plow the orchard in the spring is when the trees begin to show signs of activity. Turn the soil to a good depth, especially towards the center, but not so deep close to the trees. It would be well to break the land by plowing in both directions, as this will tear up the land thorough ly all over the orchard, except a small place around each tree. The weeds and grass can be cut away from this portion by hand, but often this will not have to be done. Next, go over the orchard with a spike-tooth har row with the teeth set at such an an gle that the surface of the soil will be left in a fine loose condition. However, it may take two or three harrowings to put it in such a condition. A good plan to follow is to harrow the land every ten days or two weeks, and by all means give it a good harowing aft er each rain so as to break the crust that has formed, thereby producing a soil mulch and preventing evaporation of the soil moisture. Follow this throuch the crowing season and it will be possible to keep down all the weeds and grass and at the same time preserve the moisture for the fruit trees. If weeds or grass are permitted to grow in the orchard they are not only taking the plant food and mois ture from the soil but they also form a convenient hiding place for the hid bernation of insects that destroy the fruit and trees. Sow Peas in July Cultivate the orchard as outlined above until July, then plant cowpeas, It is generally best to plant in drills about two feet apart, as this will per mit cultivation and thereby insure a better growth of vine. When the pods begin to show 6igns of maturity turn the entire crop under and put the soil in condition for the planting of the winter cover crop. Growing and tunine under a crop of cowpeas adds ganic matter to the soil as well as nitrogen (which is a very expensive plant food), as cowpeas have tne pow er of eatherine nitrogen from the air. After the cowpeas have been turna under and the soil has been put in condition Dlant some crop that will grow through the winter. Oats would be a good crop for ttiis purpose, as u would give a great deal of green ma terial to plow under the f.lloving snrinc. When time to begin cultiva tion the following spring, plow under the oats and cultivate as above. It will be noticed that not a single crop has been removed, all have been re turned to the soil. The orchard often affords a very convenient garden spot as well as for the production of fruit. When it is so desired to grow vegetables in the orchard for home use, follow the same general method of cultivation outlined above, except the soil will necessarily have to be plowed earner in the spring in order to put it in condition to grow early spring vege tables, ana often it is advisable to plow under some barnyard manure as the soil is being doubly taxed by growing the truck crops in addition to the fruit trees. By properly hand ling the orchard soil it will be pos sible to produce sufficient vegetables for the home and possibly some in excess for the near-by market. It is not advisable to grow crops that make a rank growth in the orchard as this is too great a tax on the soil and there may be a tendency to crowd the trees, especially when they are small. i toning Most Important. One of the most important factors in the successful production of fruit is in the proper pruning and training of the trees. As a general rule fruit trees should be branched at a con venient height, peaches and plums one to two feet, while apples and pears should be branched two to two and a half feet, and pruned with an open center with three or four well-placed scaffold branches. Be sure to remove all dead and decaying branches, also those that Interfere with any other part of the tree. The top of the tree should be cut out some; the long straggling branches should be cut back to the height with the other limbs. If there is a lot of surplus wood in the top of the tree this should be cut out, as it is desired to have all the food material go to the produc tion of fruit rather than wood growth. Watch for the fruit buds and do not cut out too much of the fruit-bearing GOOD ROADS IN RANDOLPH he following essay by Miss Ade e Armfield, a pupil of the sivti. lai gra ile in the Asheboro graded schools won a prize at County Commence :. Miss Armfield is a dauirhter r.r ment Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Armfield, of this tow F 'or many years the subject of good roads was discussed in meetings and gatherings. There were speeches ade and resolutions Dassed resolutions passed and speeches made until the people began to think there was nothina: to the uood roads nr-m- osition in Randolph county, except hot air and wasted time. During the summer of 1912. Mr ,eonard Tufts, a wealthv man of Pin hurst, N. C, and New Hampshire, ho had made a great success in building roads in Moore county asked for a conference in the court house in Asheboro with the Commissioners nf Randolph county and all citizens inter ested in tne DUUding ot good roads. Mr. Tuft addressed this conference on the day appointed, emphasizing th portance of srood road building any county, declaring that he believed that we had splendid road material in Randolph county very accessible with wnicn to construct permanent roads good for twelve months in the year. Many doubted this because at that time they did not think that a good road could be built out of anything except macadam. In order to start somethinsr and tn get the people actively interested in good roads, Mr. Tuft proposed and of fered to build a good gravel road from Asheboro to the Montgomery county me, a distance of 16 miles, for 110f per mile. Mr. Tuft realized that to grub, grade and gravel the kind of road he proposed to build would cost ore than JfoOO per mile. But in nr. ler to get the good work started, in huh he was so much interested, he as willing to devote his time, over- ight and have the work done t . price which he knew would cost him considerable money. Just after this onference, the county commissioneta agreed to pay one-half of the $.100 per mile out of the county treasury, f the other half could be raised kv subscriptions from the people in Ashe boro ar.d along the proposed route. This being done and two committees being appointed, one to represent the county and the other the subscribers, tue road was constructed under their inspection. So anxious were the com mittees to guard the interest of the county and the subscribers and to see that the road was built to specifica tions, that the road proved to be a permanent and durable one, the suc cess of the good roads movement de pending upon this road. The committees were verv exactimr with Mr. Tuft.' not knowino- what a good road he was really building. Time has proven this road to be one of the best ever constructed in North Carolina for the monev it cost. which was about seven hundred and fifty dollars per mile, one-third of which was paid by the county, one- third by the citizens, and the other third by Mr. Tuft, together with his oversight and supervision. The road was an agreeable surprise to all, as it withstood the severe weather of the past winter better than the sand clay or macadam roads costing three or four times as much per mile. Since this time we have built about seventy-five miles of road similar to the Tuft road, the county paying half and the citizens paying the other half. We hope some day to have one of the best systems of roads in Randolnli county to be found in the state. But we will always have Mr. Tuft to thank most, as he demonstrated to us at his own expense that good roads could be constructed in Randolph county of ma terial along the way and at a time when very few, if any, believed such a thing could be done. ADELAIDE 'ARMFIELD. Sixth grade, Asheboro graded school W. C. Bentley, proprietor of the Cash Grocery Company, Statcsville, has confessed to Insurance Commis sioner Young and Sheriff Deaton that he fired his own store, hoping to col lect the insurance, because he was be ing hard pushed by creditors. The stock and fixtrues were worth $686, with $1,000 insurance. wood. All fruit trees should be well' shaped, tending towards an open cen ter. When removing a branch, whether large or small, cut back to another branch or to a bud, as this will in sure the healing of the wound more readily. When taking off a large branch cut back well to the body of the tree and make a smooth, clean cut. One made in this way and if painted will heal readily, while if a stub is left, complete growing over of tissue may never be effected. Bulletins may be had from the De partment of Agriculture at Washing ton that treat it in a very compre hensive manner. A small home orchard properly eared for will yield sufficient fruit for the family on the farm, thus giving an opportunity to live better nd tiheaper.