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THE LIFE PRESERVER Official Journal of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ABOLITION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

VOL. 1 SEPTEMBER, 1915 No. 1

WELCOME The President of the National Association for the Abolition of Capital Punishment extends a most welcome hand to any energetic, altruistic person, irrespective of age, color, creed, race, sex or residence, to organize in his or her home town and co-operate with the National Headquarters.

Capital Punishment is barbaric; it should therefore find little support in this supposedly enlightened age.

Your co-operation and support is required and solicited, in an endeavor to abolish punishment by death.

IN UNION THERE IS STRENGTH

GOOD! MR. SECRETARY Charles J. Johnson Enlists The Board of Governors of the Association receives with pleasure the good news that Charles H. Johnson, ex-deputy warden of Sing Sing Prison, has joined the National Association for the Abolition of Capital Punishment.

Good work, Mr. Secretary. Congratulations to you, Mr. Johnson.

THE CASE OF LEO M. FRANK At the first meeting in August of the Board of Governors, resolutions were passed, deprecating the atrocious execution of Leo M. Frank. Copies were ordered to be transmitted to the Governor of Georgia and to the executive officers of the State Legislature.

Mr. Frederick R. Jones, Secretary to Governor Harris, acknowledged receipt of our Secretary's communication, but no word has been received from the heads of the Houses comprising the law-making body.

GREETINGS FROM SANDUSKY William F. Bolly, of Sandusky, Ohio, in joining the Association writes: "Every humane person in the world should advocate the abolition of capital punishment."

Thanks, Mr. Bolly, for your few kind and inspiring words, as well as for your membership.

FIVE MEN ESCORTED TO DEATH Through the courtesy of Honorable Thomas Mott Osborne, Warden of Sing Sing Prison, the writer was invited to view the killing of five human beings on Friday morning, September 3rd, 1915, at the human slaughter house, maintained by the sovereignty of the State.

It is assumed that murderers are executed for the purpose of making the punishment a deterrrent for that crime; but it is beyond the power of any person to draw a pen-picture of the horrible and hideous offense performed in the name of the Law at Sing Sing.

In the space of one hour five normal persons were strapped to a chair and each at the signal of an official was thrown forward by the force of many hundred volts of electricity; they frothed at the mouth and in less time than can be described, death's pallor and rigidity set in. It is stated that death is instantaneous upon the application of the current. The attending physicians, however, refused to pronounce the men dead until after the application of third shock, and in one instance, the fourth.

Is it making the punishment fit the crime by deliberately taking a man's life in the presence of thirty or forty witnesses, who are within arm's reach yet unable by word or act to interfere with the brutal punishment.

If at any time two murders were committed in the same town at the same time by any organized body of people or an individual, the cry which would be raised from coast to coast is known beyond the necessity of description. Yet, the Majesty of the Law, calmly, systematically and on prompt schedule, without any reservation, kills five persons in about fifty-five minutes, with less feeling than a cattle raiser exhibits in destroying his stock.

The Secretary and President of the Association arrived at Ossining Thursday evening. Shortly after 4 o'clock, the following morning, they presented themselves at the warden's office, where their credentials were carefully checked and rechecked. Thereafter, the Association's representatives, together with others, were escorted from the warden's office to the gruesome death chamber.

The death chamber, from which the renowned "little green door" has been removed, may be described as a large bin or a cellar. The chair appears to be an ordinary one, to which the necessary electrical appliances are attached, after the condemned has been seated therein and strapped. At (Continued page 2, column 2.)

THE LIFE PRESERVER

Published and distributed monthly be the National Association for the Abolition of Capital Punishment. The National Association for Prison Reforms, Affiliated. 291 Broadway, Room 1401, New York City.

I. Baer Reinhardt, President and Legal Advisor. Jerome B. Sabath, Secretry and Treasurer. Mabel A Gluck Assistant Secretary. Leo Kenneth Mayer, Historian and Editor.

Vol. 1. September, 1915. No. 1

This association, like all other active organizations, incurs considerable expense, the most important items of which are rent, statinery, postage and office help. This expense is sustained by the dues of the members and voluntary contributions. We have but one class of active membership, the dues for which are $6.00 per annum. This sum includes full membership priviileges in both the National Association for the Abolition of Capital Punishment and its affiliated association the National Association for Prison Reforms. We welcome the moral and financial support of any person interested in these progressive movements, either in the form of active members or contributors in any sum they may feel able to afford. The "Life Preserver" is mailed monthly to all members and contributors without any charge. Notices of meetings are mailed to all memebers and contributors two weeks in advance of the date set. All communications should be addressed to the Secretary.

The new Death House at Sing Sing has been completed. It will accommodate 33 people. Prisoners awaiting execution will now be made comfortable before being killed.

a signal given by a prison employee, the electrician shoves, with tremendous force, a lever which shoots the current through the person, whose life the State claims.

At the application of the first shock, the body, now helpless, jumps forward from the chair as far as the straps will allow, about eight inches. The voltage is then increased to insure death. A physical expamination follows by the prison doctors and by such other medical men present who may desire.

The death process has a decided nauseating effect upon the withness, some weakened by the ordeal, others unable to reconcile themselves to the fact that a life had already been extinguisehd and still others dumbfounded by the solemnity of the occasion.

Horror stricken are all the witnesses at the nonchalance exhibited by the representatives of Law and order in their performance of the only irrevokable act committed by State -- the destruction of human life.

Words can little describe the "damnable atrocity."

--Jerome B. Sabath

PERSONAL

I. Baer Reinhardt, our president, is taking a much needed rest at his summer home, Phoenicia, N. Y. President Reinhardt will be back for had work Monday, Septemer 13th.

Miss Mabel A. Gluck has been elected to the office of Assistant Secretary. Miss Gluck is the first woman to hold office in this Association.

Watch the next issue for full particulars of the October Quarterly Meeting. Remember the date--October 30th.

WORDS BY THE EDITOR

If five states of this progressive country and no less a number of countries of the world have been able to reign peaceably without capital punishment, should it not be equally possible for the Empire State to erase from its statute books this antiquated form of punishment?

Horrible must be the scene of an execution and Mr. Sabath's words were not misplaced when he termed the impeachable affair a "damnable atrocity.

Capital Punishment MUST be abolished. Let this be our slogan until our aim has been accomplished.

The Association learns with much regret that the Constitutional Convention has refused to strike out of the Constitution the provision permitting the carrying out of the death penalty.

The Life Preserver regards the constitutionalizing of the status quo as a symptom of reactionary, rather than progressive principals.

As we live in hopes, let us hope that a Legislature, in the not distant future, will bring about the people's desire by the abolition of Capital Punishment.

We wonder whether Benjamin Franklin had ever thought that electricity would be used by the State for the actual destruction of life?

"State KILLS Five in Chair in 65 Minutes." Headline in New York American, Saturday, September 4th, 1915. Electricity again has proven its speed.

The Editor will appreciate contributions for publication, which will be used at the earliest available issue. All letters must be signed, as anonymous communications will not receive attention.

Should debaters or speakers desire material for debate or lecture in favor of the Abolition of Capital Punishment, address the Editor. He will be pleased to furnish whatever data he possesses gratuitously.

The Association will furnish speakers on the subject of the Abolition of Capital Punishment, if application therefore is made to the Secretary a reasonable time in advance.

That Leo M. Frank received a fair and unbiased trial has been conclusively proven to the public. In evidence thereof, the manner in which the law-abiding citizens of Georgia accepted the news of the commutation of his sentence, is offered.

Procratination is the thief of time, said Young. Join us now.

Lots of men and things seem easy--until you try to do them.

TO CHARLES H. JOHNSON

Heartiest congratulations and best wishes for success in your new undertaking at Chesire, Connecticut.

When you terminate your affiliations with the Connecticut State Reformatory may your departure be accompanied with the same regret by the inmates thereof as when you left Sing Sing.

THOMAS MOTT OSBORNE DISAPPROVES OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

"Round the Courts" reports Warden Osborne as appearing before the Bill of Rights Committee of the Constitutional Convention and voicing his opinion on Capital Punishment in the following words: The death penalty is a direct incentive for murder, which is a mere passing and not a tragedy for those who commit the crime.

"I used to favor capital punishment when I was younger and more sentimental. Now I can assure this Committee that there is no person who comes in contact with capital punishment directly, as the prison employees do, who is not opposed to the death penalty.

The mere fact that we electrocute men in secret, as we do, shows we know we are wrong, and that capital punishment is a gigantic, tragic failure."

TO OUT-OF-TOWN RESIDENTS

When visiting New York you are cordially invited to make your headquarters at the office of the Association, Room 1401, 291 Broadway. Receive and dictate your mail there and make yourself at home. Everyone will lend a helping hand to make your stay pleasant.

The Association endeavors to prevent the carrying out of the death sentence in every case. It will give preferred attention to any one requesting its assistance.

All requests for aid must be made in person at the office of the Association. It is advisable to make an appointment by mail or telephone in advance, whenever possible.

NEW DEPUTY WARDEN AT SING SING

Elihu C. Church has been appointed Deputy Warden at Sing Sing Prison. Mr. Church is about 34 years of age, posseses a pleasing personality and is imbued with a proper importance of the work which he has been chosen to perform. Mr. Church refused to express his opinion on the subject of Capital Punishment beyond saying that he has very definite views thereon. He seems to be very determined and strong willed and ought to "make good."

If you are not a member, become one. If you are a member, get us one. Use the following in any event.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for the ABOLITION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 291 Broadway New York

I, the undersigned, being in hearty accord with the movement to abolish the death penalty in the various States of the Union, do hereby apply for enrollment in your organization, for which please find enclosed herewith the sum of $ to pay for my dues for in advance.

Name . . . . . . . . . . P.O. Address . . . . . . . . . .

Dues, $6.00 per Annum, Payable Semi-Annually in Advance.