Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-02-28
PAINLESS DEATH.
METHODS OF ExTlNGUlSHING THE
LIFE OF CONDEMNED CRIMINALS.
An Inquiry which Ripened Civilization
Suggests-Dr. Richardson's Expert
nents with Dogs-The Essence
of the Sentence Of Death.


voted attention TO the subject Of the
present methods of eXlinguiShing the life
of condemned criminals. No one can tell
how much pain is endured by a man who
is hung or guillotined. or garroted. but
the prev eNailing iml reSSion is that the pain
is severe in all these cases and that IT
takes manN minutes, which seem an age
J 10 the sufferer. II Is not the design OF
the law that criminals shall be tortured.
as well as deprived of life. hence various
processes have been suggested by which
life could be destroyed without the intlic-
ton Of bodily suffering.
kipeuing civilization has now suggested
the inquiry whether. N all these cases.
the desired object could not he attained
by destroying life with painless amt sthet
les An examination II the problem was
undertaken in Is. by tue Medical so
Cictv OF London, and n home for the de-
slruCtion OF surplus dogs and wounded
animals was established at Murtakc by
Dr b W richardson. +. 5. K whi h
appears 10 be in successful operation to-
dav -Four different ana sthetiCs have
been used Carbonc oxide, ChIOroform.
bisulphide of carbon and coal gas All pro.
duCe narCutiSm. if administered for that
purpose and in every case the death
which ensucs is believed to be painless
ChlurOfurm is certain to kill if the fluid
is ditlused into a state of vapOr and alb
sorbed into the lungs Even j per cent of
the vapOr in common air is not brcathed
without danger. In one out of every
800 cases where Chloroform is admins
tered a. an an sthetlC in surgical cases.
death ensucs. 1t has one Disadvantage
it is dear But by mixing it with bsul.
phide of carbon, which is very cheap, it
produces narcutism as quickly as carboniC
oxide and involves less muscular dis
turhauCc. (OmmOn coal gas answers the
purpose equally well Its chief
constituents are hydrogen and marsh gas.
with some hydro carbon and some car
bOnic oxide BY mixing % per cent of
such gas with common air an atmosphere
is produced III which AN animal goes TO
sleep in two or three minutes and dies
asleep, apparently without pain. shortly
afterward 1t was observed thai the heart
ceased to beat about three minutes after
sleep was established Every one has
read accounts of people who blew out the
gas at night instead of turning II off. and
were founI dead in the morning. They
probably died without consciousness of
suffering The difficulty with this agent
is that its use involves considerable dan
ger of explosions
After a series of experiments DR.
Richardson came to the conclusion that
for the case of the lower animals the best
narcotic was carbOniC oxide. lie prepared
it very simply by burning charcoal over
gas burner. The gas thus created was
conducted into reservoir, from which i
was pumped in the quantity required into
what h" called the death chamber. As
many aS eighty or "A nundred dogs were
collected together. ard when everything
was ready the gas was pumped in, with
slight admiNturc of chlOroform and
bisulphidc of carbon. Some dogs
fell asleep instantly and probably
died at once Others struggled
against the tendency 10 s,eep and re
NAMED av AXE two or three minutes. Few
could resist AS long as this, and in two or
three minutes more a were dead. at
were found 10 fall asleep as quickly u
dogs, but resisted death much longer
Death was produced by anIsthesiS. or
sleep, which differs widely from death by
aSphyXia, which is death from deprivation
of air 1t WAS evidently painless DIR.
richardson tried the rOCeSs on sheep
with equal success. They died AS quietly
as the dogs and their esh was uninjured
The method was adopted with the SAINT
result with pigs. calves and fowls. The
cost Of the death chamber and apparatus
is estimated at from $50 TO $50. and the
cost of killing an animal when a number
are executed together is about cent
We commend the subject to the con
sideratiOU of butchers and of the agents of
Mr.. Eerghs society. OF all demOraliZing
influences the most potent is cruelty. 1t
is hard TO understand how humane in
stinCts can survive life spent in cutting
for nothing that our English ancestors re.
fused 10 a. .Ow butchers 10 sit on luries
We must probably admit that man -
work at an abattOlr and still retain heert
as We cannot positively say that every
dog catcher must be brute. But these
Callings certainly impose on those who
follow them tie onus of proving that they
have still claims TO humanity. The
habitual sight of SUIT ering, the constant
spectacle OF blood. the repeated COntem-
plation of the death agony of poor
dumb beasts must harden the heart.
and II must require unusual strength of
character TO resist such an education in
savagery. \ reform which did away with
these horrors would surely lessen the crop
of crimes of violence.
There is one consideration which must
not be forgotten. The essence Of the sen
teuce of death is not in the actual hang
ing of the Culprit. 1t is in the previous
mental agony. In this country the prac-
tice has long prevailed that a considerable
period Of time shall elapse between the
sentence and execution. The underlying
notion was 10 afford the condemned Grim,
inal an o. portunity to prepare himself tC
meet his God. " hat effect it may have
in this dire, ton it is perhaps difficult tC
ali 4 L..
much stock in the religious pro
fe>sions of men who are going IC
be hanged In our mother country the
practice used TO he tlcrent 1t was
thought best that the execution should
follow the sentence as swiftly as possible
80 rs to strike terror into the minds OF
men who We're inclined to crime In
France the criminal never knows when be
is going 10 Oe executed till the executioneI
enters his cell. and bidding him rise, pro
ceeds to pinion his arms. Ii is evident
that. so far rs this mental agony is con
Cerned. substitution Of an anBstheIiC
for hangman' : rope would make no diff
ference. The ever present vision OF death
the counting of the days. the horrd
dreams al night would 20 on Just the
same whatever form of homicide wa,
adopted And it would be best So. 1t is
not well that the doom of the murderer
should be robbed of all its terrors.
ueu. listers Widow.
Chicago Tribune
Mrs. tuStcr has now been eight wears
widow, and during the most Of these
years she supported herself by acting us
secretary to the Society of Decorative
Art Her pcLsion then from the govern.
ment was only so II month. but such u
lOdo was raised by the newspapers and
public about this niggaTdy way of deal
ing with brave oLccr's widow that
short time ago her pension was doubled
SO now she is enabled by close economy