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. "Chessihan—and Victin—. 1’ There are two grounds upon which? | raua objection might be raised to the execution of Caryl Chessman. : One would be fhaf there was a sub- \ stantial doubt as to his guilt, a doubt } which we do not think was present in his case. The other, of course, would be a conscientious objection to capital pun- ishment—an objection which would ap- ~ ply equally: Q all cases no matter how d clear the guilt or how heinous the crime. < Neither of these considerations has we been stressed in most of the mawkish nonsense written about the Chessman case. For example, the foreign press, * possibly with an eye to the sale of pa- pers, has harped on the 12 years of “indescribable mental agony” to which Chessman has been subjected. What is never mentioned is the fact that Chess- . man and his resourceful lawyers were | responsible for this 12-year delay. They availed themselves of every opportunity, every technicality, for appeals and stay} ++ of execution. Of course they wer; within their ‘rights in doing this, But , Why should, American justice be damned. “py critics af ‘home and abroad because it gives a condemned man every op- portunity under the law to plead his case? We cannot help but think that - most of the criticism has been the prod- uct either of a monumental ignorance of the facts or of a sinister readiness to seize upon any propaganda weapon if it can be wsed to belabor the United States. “ Finally, why has so little been writ- ten about the victims of this man’s per- |, verted crimes; why so much concern for Caryl Chessman, so little for the people ; whose lives he ruined? In all of the frenzied chatter in Chessman’s behalf, we have see not one word of compas- sibn for the girl, 17 at the time, who wap oie of his victims. As a result of " dieadful experience she has spent ™ oe yéars in a mental institution, and sl may spend the rest of her Hfe there there. Jot a : KEUs 77, 5O JUN 8 158" S"EMAYA 9-980 a et ie Liga <Tamm = w W.C. Sullivan’ __ tos Ai’ Lat yy The Washington Post and— i- Times Herald The Washingten Dally Nows The Evening Star . New York Herald Tribune —___ New York Journal-American 1 New York Mirror : Tart Ek Post The New York Times —______. The Worker ye - Pig reser Leeder | PHS Wall Street Joumal Date