UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 73 



yard while the people were assembling to witness the 

 execution of Professor Webster. Who can contem- 

 plate it without a shudder, to think of a fellow-being 

 sent into the eternal world, in the full possession of 

 his physical and mental energies, for the awful crime 

 of murder ? Very able arguments have been adduced 

 for and against Capital Punishments ; my own views 

 are decidedly against Capital Punishments. In the 

 State of Michigan the abolition of the Death Penalty 

 works well where it has been tried for several years ; 

 and in the convention which was held during the past 

 year for revising the Constitution, there was nearly a 

 unanimous opinion in favor of the law as it stands, 

 which has abolished the gallows. The trial of Dr. 

 Webster excited a deeper interest in the public mind 

 than any trial which has taken place in the United 

 States for many years. The following brief sketch 

 of Professor Webster is taken from one of the Boston 

 newspapers published on the morning of his execu- 

 tion. 



" John W. Webster was the son of Dr. Redford 

 Webster, at one time a member of our State Legis- 

 lature ; he was a man of considerable wealth and 

 great respectability. John W. was born in this city, 

 about the year 1788. He received a most liberal 

 7 



