CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 128, 4 May 1925, Page 11

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

CONAN DOYLE’S OPINION. LONDON, April 20. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in an interview published in the Standard, said that personally he was against capital punishment, unless murder had been definitely established. It was easy to hang a man, but it was impossible to resuscitate him. Where there was even the faintest doubt, such as in the Thorne case, the death sentence should not be carried out. The date of Thorne’s execution coinsided with what would have been Elsie Cameron’s 27th birthday. Miss Cameron’s mother wrote to Thorne, appealing to him to fully confess the murder, and so clear Elsie’s name. “I’m forced against my will to believe him guilty,” said Mrs Cameron, '“but he diet with my prayers. I don’t feel any satisfaction at his fate.” Thorne prior to his execution was engaged in writing an autobiography, including a new statement concerning Elsie Cameron’s death. In reply to the letter from Mrs Cameron he wrote, “There is nothing to confess, Elsie understands.” “MAUDLIN SYMPATHY” The Daily Mail deprecates the lavishing of maudlin sympathy on murderers. “Thorne,” the paper says, “would not have ghoulishly hacked the girl’s body to pieces if he had been innocent. The jury’s verdict, which was correct, was supported by the experienced appeal judges, and their judgment should be regarded as final. The growing practice of re-trying grave issues out of court is to be regretted.