St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-12-14
HUMANE EXECUTIONS

HUMANE EXECUTIONS
ne Use q carsou.c Oxide - . sabssassts
for Hanging.
DR.. Samuel w. Abbott, secretary OF
the Massachusetts State Board OF
Health. contributes to tho Boston
Medical and Surgical Journal an inter-
csting paper relative to substituting
for hanging some better and moro
humane method OF inflicting the death
penalty. In the present state OF scien-
tific knowledge OF tho nature and ef-
fects upon the human system Of cleo
tricity. DR.. Abbott is not prepared to
accept it as the best substitute Mt
hand, saying Of experiments which
have been made: ut would appear
from the results that there are serious
hindranccs to the adoption OF this
subtle agent" Without consider
ing tho main question as
to whether some other method
should take the place OF hanging. DR..
Abbott says that. il a change is desira-
bic. lin carbonic oxide we possess
such an agent. which has the property
Of destroying rapidly and painlessly
when properly administered" He re-
fers to the writings OF DR.. h w. Rich
ardson. OF London. who. several years
ago. brought this method to public no
tice for the destruction of small domes-
tic animals, such as dogs and cats, and
especially to DR.. Richardson's state
ment that 7.eOO such animals had been
destroyed in London in q few months
previous 10 the doctors article on
''The Painless Extinction Of Life" DR..
Abbott says carbonic oxide may be
made from charcoal Mt small cost
or it may be obtained moro
cheaply still from the street mains
of any coal and water company.
Water gas he considers preferable to
coal gas. since it contains from four TO
five times rs much carbonic oxide. aud
would. therefore. be more rapid and
fatal in it's action. He says: IAN at
mOsphere Of % TO 80 per cent of car
bonic oxide, rs in the case Of water
gas. or. still better, one Of so per cent
or more, rs may be made from char
coal. would undoubtedly destroy human
lifo in less than two minutes without
pain" lie has himself used mixture
OF about z per cent. with air. with
perfect success in destroying small an
finals i'm from one to one and one half
minutes without tho appearance OF
pain.
DIR. Abbott goes to show that the
apparatus for an execution may be of
the simplest and most inexpensive
kind. and suggests a tight wooden box.
three feet square and seven feet high.
a tight!y-fitting door. an aperture for
a gas pipe OF liberal size for
applying a rapid supply Of gas under
ordinary pressure from the street
mains. and a smaller aperture to al
low OF expulsion Of the air. II
higher percentage OF carbonic oxide is
small charcoal furnace
would be required for generating it and
storing it temporarily. rs in the case
Of DR.. Richardson's lethal chamber
Of this method DIR. Richardson says:
Compared with other methods of ex-
animal life. such as hang
ing. drowning. poisoning by prussic
acid. shooting. stunning. the lethal
method stands far ahead on every
ground Of practical readiness. GER
tainly humanity" In summing up.
DR.. Abbott claims for carbonic oxide
The advantages OF painless death.
rapid action and economy. In respect
10 the second point he says: Its
action should not DO confounded
with the slow action OF
small percentages of gas. such
IS is illustrated by the accidental
leaths often occurring in hotels
These almost invariably happen by
exposure to the gas escaping from a
mere pin-hole or slit in the gas-burn-
sr. which consequently forms but one
per cent of the air Of the apart ment
md destroys life slowly" In regard
% economy. he says that the cost Of
he wooden box would be but tribe.
md the expense Of seventy-five or one
feet OF gas scarcely worth |
when compared with the
apparatus required for an
electrical execution. - Boston Tran.
'cript.