The Garrote in Porto Rico
*The garrote is a Spanish instrument of punishment used in the Spanish dominions as the means of executing criminals. “The victim is placed on a stool with a post or stake behind, to which is affixed an iron collar controlled by a screw passing through the post. This collar is made to clasp the neck of the victim, and is tightened by the action of the screw. As the instrument is now operated, the point of the screw is caused to protrude and pierce the spinal marrow at its junction with the brain, thus causing death.”—Century Dictionary. For more than a year Porto Rico has been subject to the power and jurisdiction of the United States. In this time, and not long ago, five prisoners were sentenced to death in Porto Rico—to be executed by means of the garrote. As Porto Rico is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and as the Constitution of the United States forbids “cruel and unusual punishments,” and as beyond all question the garrote* is a “cruel and unusual punishment,” appeal was made to the President of the United States that this cruel means of execution be not inflicted. The appeal was refused. And this because to accept the appeal would be to recognize the Constitution of the United States as of force in Porto Rico. And thus this horrible Spanish cruelty was continued and employed under the jurisdiction of the United States, rather than that the Constitution of the United States should be recognized in Porto Rico, which would have instantly annihilated forever every species of Spanish cruelty and oppression. How would it be possible more fully to repudiate the Constitution? And when it is so repudiated in one part of the jurisdiction of the United States, how long can anybody be sure that when occasion offers, it will not be repudiated in any, or even every, other part of the jurisdiction of the United States.