"Mr. Speaker. Six years ago in the first Legislature which
convened in this beautiful building, I had the honor of lifting
my voice in support of a bill similar to the one now under
consideration . . . and as the years have gone by, my earnest
conviction that Capital Punishment is wholly wrong has become
deepened and settled. . . .
"If punishment is what you want to inflict, would it not be much
more of a punishment to incarcerate the criminal within prison
walls, where conscience might bring remorse to torture him
through the slow lapse of years, cut off from the job and
sunshine of freedom, not hearing the songs of the wild birds,
sense the breath and perfume of the flowers, where no rustle of
the autumn leaves could reach him? . . .
"Did Domitian stamp out Christianity by putting to death 40,000
Christians? . . . Did the English retrieve their fallen fortunes
in France by burning Joan of Arc or crush Erin's love and hope of
liberty by the execution of Robert Emmet? . . .
"Have women ever been unfaithful since Henry VIII made an example
of Anne Boleyn? Have army spies been unknown since Nathan Hale
gave up his life for his country? . . .
"Let us bar this thing of Vengeance and the Furies from the
confines of our great State; Let not this harlot of judicial
murder smear the pages of our history with her bloody fingers, or
trail her crimson robes through our Halls of Justice, and let
never again the Great Seal of the Great State of Minnesota be
affixed upon a warrant to take a human life. . . ."
