Evening star., 1921-04-09
Editorial Digest
Casing Murderers.

rorS OF the death Ch2moef Dy pro-
viding for the execution Of criminals
by means OF gas administered while
, the victim sleeps" is not accepted by
the entire press Of the country as a
step toward humanizing capital pun
| ishment. While many writer's sup
port the new plan. which they believe
eliminates the horrors Of the moose
and the electric chair. others feel that
the mental suffering would be as
| great or even greater during the
hours Of suspense before the sleep
that would be the last. The pain
agree with the Pittsburgh Gazette
Times. can be avoided only by abol-
| ishment of the death penalty"
The Roanoke Times feels that Just
| advance over the gallows. so the gas
| chamber seems to be an advance over
the electric chair and Ito execute
man in his sleep" the Newark News
believes. 'invokes a practice as near
he Ths Then ues Press con
siders gas 'in a sense less horrible
than the electric chair" and the Jop-
lin Globe. recalling that in Missouri
capital punishment was restored be-
cause public sentiment seemed to de-
mand it," looks upon the inaugura-
| ton Of the gas chamber as 'an i'm
portant development Of crime pun
ishments'' worthy Of being watched
with interest. 1t Is IAN improve
ment." the Omaha Worid-Herald be-
ital punishment less horrible for the
condemned and less horrible for the
public to contemplate"
This deduction would seem correct
at first glance" the Harrisburg Tele-
graph remarks, but demands that its
! readers place themselves 'in the con-
demned mans position" 1t con-
tinues: Fear would keep him from
sleep until utter exhaustion closed
his eyes; for days he would be on the
away the sleep that might be his last
Insanity would very possibly result,
as the interminable suspense of the
Spanish inQuisition broke down the
mind Of its victim"
In. striving to provide humane
method of execution, the Fort Wayne
News and Sentinel thinks that Nevada
has perhaps adopted a plan Of re-
fined torture" for no doubt prisoners
"of nervous organization will die
a thousand Deaths" under the inn
preston that "gas has been intro
duced into their cells before it really
has"
Electrocution is favored by some
newspapers. and the Trenton Times
expresses doubt whether the Nevada
IIlelnOu Will De any moro painless OT
humane" though under the latter
procedure 'the condemned man will
be spared the experience and excite
| ment of being prepared for the death
chair in the presence of a score or
| more officials and witnesses. But
preferred to either shooting. or the
gallows," the alternatives between
which sentenced Nevadans were for
merly allowed to choose. To place
| man in the specially constructed cell
Immediately after the death sentence
the Hartford Courant believes, "and
in time most refined torture" This.
1t points out "is exactly what the
law was designed to abolish"
the post-mortem Of the first criminal
to be executed in the electric chair
in that state, and quotes the author
ity, DR.. Spitzka, "who has witnessed
hundreds of electrocutions." and who
has declared very emphatically" that
electrocution was by far the most
humane way Of disposing Of such
cases."
To the Philadelphia Public Ledger
death in the lethal chamber will be
| more than the one pictured by Poe
manner Of man can retain a gleam Of
reason in Nevada's gas cell? What
manner Of man will ever sleep other
than the sleep Of exhaustion that
precedes death? How many deaths
will he die before he dies that death
that the law has ordered and the
court approved? And it has been
written into American organic law,
the Constitution Of the United States.
that cruel and unusual punishnnents'
shall not be inflicted"
To this the New York Tribune
agrees: To die in ones sleep is the
ideal death in popular imagination.
But theory has very little to do with
such psychology. Experience may
prove that no torture is more ex.
quisite than the doubt which a con-
demned criminal in Nevada must now
face. of never knowing which sleep
is to be the last"
Cancellations as to how the VIC
tim will be affected cannot be made,
in the opinion of the Syracuse Her
aid. which declares that at will all be
a matter of temperament" and ~even
psychological experts cannot venture
to lay down any fixed rule in these
premises" The Indianapolis Star
takes the same view. I'm the end"
1t predicts. cit will probably resolve
Itself into an individual equation"