The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1889-10-30
HUMANE EXECUTIONS.
The Use Of Carbonic Oxide as n Substitute
for Hanging.

The Use OF Carbonic Oxide as n Substitute
for Hanging.
DR.. Samuel w. Abbott, secretary OF
the Massachusetts State Board of
Health, contributes to the Boston
Medical and Surgical Journal ali inter-
esting paper relative to substituting
for hanging some better and more
humane method of infictins the death
penalty. In the present state OF scien-
tific knowledge of the nature and eff
fects upon the human system of cleo
tricity, DR.. Abbott is not prepared to
accept it as the best substitute at
hand, saying of experiments which
have been made: at would appear
from the results that there are serious
hindrances to the adoption Of this
subtle agent" Without consider.
ing the main question as
to whether some other method
should take the place of hanging, DR..
Abbott says that, if a change is desira-
BILE, Gin carbonic oxide VIC possess
such an agent, which has the property
of destroying rapidly and painlessly
when properly administered" He re-
fers to the writings OF DR.. B. 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 1000 such animals had been
destroyed in London in a few months
previous to the doctors article on
"The Painless Extinction of Life" DR..
Abbott says carbonic oxide may be
made from charcoal at small cost
or it may be obtained more
cheaply still from the street mains
Of any coal and water COMPANY.
Water gas he considers preferable te
coal gas, since it contains from four tt
five times as much carbonic oxide, an(
would, therefore, be more rapid ant
fatal in its action. He says: ''An at
mosphere of % to so per cent. of car
bonic oxide. as in the case of wate1
gas, or, still better, one of 80 per cent
or more, as may be made from char
coal, would undoubtedly destroy human
life in less than two minutes withou
pain" He has himself used mixture
OF about Z per cent, with air, with
perfect success in destroying small an
imals in from one to one and one-hal
minutes without the appearance o
pain.
DR.. Abbott goes to show that the
apparatus for an execution may be Of
the simplest and most inexpensive
kind, and suggests tight wooden box
three feet square and seven feet high
a tight!y-titting door, an aperture TO,
admitting gas pipe OF liberal size fol-
applying rapid supply OF gas under
ordinary pressure from the stree
mains, and a smaller aperture to al
low OF expulsion of the air. If +,
| higher percentage of carbonic oxide il
desired, a small charcoal furnace
would be required for generating it ant
storing it temporarily, as in the case
of DR.. Richardson's lethal chamber
OF this method DR.. Richardson says
compared with other methods OF ex
tinguishing animal life, such as hang
ing, drowning, poisoning by prussi
acid shooting, stunning, the letha
method stands far ahead on ever,
ground Of practical readiness, Ger
tainly humanity" In summing up
DR.. Abbott claims for carbonic oxid
the advantages of painless death
rapid action and economy. In respec
to the second point, he says: ut
action should not be confounde'
with tho slow action @
small percentages of gas, sue
as is illustrated by the accidents
deaths often occurring in hotels
These almost invariably happen b
expo sure to the gas escaping from
mere pin-hole or slit in the gas-burn
err, which consequently forms but on
/ per cent of the air of the apartment
and destroys life slowly" In regar
to economy, he says that the cost c
the wooden box would be but trifle
and the expense OF seventy-tive or on
hundred feet of gas scarcely wort
mentioning when compared with tn
expensive apparatus required for a
electrical execution. - Boston Trar