April 13, 1849
A report from the N.W. Washingtonian of an enthusiastic meeting at Tremont Temple, at which about five hundred people signed a petition for Goode’s repreve The article includes a strong statement favoring correction rather then execution as the better way to assure the safety of the community. “Shall we be safer then to hang Washington Goode? No. So far as security is concerned, he can be safely kept in prison. So far as the example is concerned, the community justly fear the hanging, and require that it shall be in private. Its only effect upon the vicious will be to brutalize them, and sharpen their appetite for blood. If Goode shall be hung, we are all safer previous to the deed being committed, than we shall be afterward. But there is one other consideration, the reformation of the criminal himself. We never should lose sight of this. In securing this, we secure the safety of the community, and the abstract ends of justice….”
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