The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1913-08-26
..,,u MACHINE TRIED ON STEER
EFFECTIVELY. DEDICATION"
RY NEGRO ASSAULTER.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.-The law en-
,.+a5 bv the Arkansas legislature,
,hs+i+uting electrocution for hang
no in the execution of criminals
oonvicted of capital offenses has be-
.,,,a effective. All persons convicted
- canital offenses committed after
Tuna 10 last, where the penalty is
,oo+h will be electrocuted in spe-
st,1v prepared death chamber in the
.+ota Denitentiary at Little Rock.
The first to die by this method
ill he Lee Simms, a negro, who has
noon sentenced to electrocution Sep
t,rber ). Robert Threet of Conway,
negro convicted of assaulting wo-
non which is a capital offense in
Arkansas. has been sentenced to die
- tho chair October 6. There may
M on appeaI in the Threet case, but
+bere will be none in the case of
Simms.
And then will come new trouble
for the newspapers. How much of
+ba story of an execution will they
dare TO publish? The law specifiical-
" Drovides that
section 10. No newspaper or per-
son shall print or publish the details
of the execution of criminals under
This act. Only the fact that the Grim
,raI was executed shall be printed or
published"
No Penalty Prescribed.
But no penalty is prescribed for
the newspaper that prints all the de-
tails and. at most, the offense could
he considered no more than INSIDE
meanor, or possibly a contempt,
which might send the publisher to
Jail for awhile-if any court desired
to push the prosecution.
It is generally believed that this
feature of the law will be ignored by
the newspapers, which will publish,
as usual, whatever details their man
ayers may regard as of public inter
est One of the Little Rock dailies
condemns the statute as zone of those
darned fool laws that are never en-
forced and never do any good"
The substitution of the electric
chair for the gallows in Arkansas
meets with very general approval by
all citizens. The seventy-five sheriffs
of the state are especially pleased.
During the last session of the legisla-
ture they Endorsed the proposed act.
The hanging of criminals has ever
been one of the most undesirable
duties of sheriffs, and it has never
been a good advertisement for a
community. Now, as soon as a Grim
inal is condemned to death he is hur
ried to the death cell in Little Rock
to await his execution or the action
of the higher courts. Then if the
verdict stands his death is accom-
plished without the attending demon
alizing features that so often charac-
terize the assembly of the morbidly
curious throngs about the gallows.
Homemade Products
The electric chair to be used by
Arkansas is a homemade" product,
built under the direction of Prof. w.
n Gladson of the University of Ar
kansas at a cost of $702.O5. The
cabinet work was done in the shops
at the state university and the cleo
trical work by a Chicago firm. 1t is
wired for an alternating current from
the state plant located in the same
building Usually two impacts are
needed. In the first about two thous-
and volts are used, and in the second
one thousand volts. The current
reaches the vital parts of the body
through electrodes at the wrist, the
scalp and the left ankle.
The death chair was successfully
tested one day last week when a
heavy steer was electrocuted, the cur
rent that passed through its body