The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1921-07-26
MAGAZINE Editorial
FAVORS STATE LAW

Ndua new Id iepuii ihb hhui uSiSi
TO lie put to death by gas. most of the
articles being written in a dispar-
aging vein, it is refreshing to read
an editorial devoid of unnecessary
sentimentality The following is an
editorial taken from Popular Me-
chanics:
This Is not an argument for or
against capital punishment, but mere
ley comment upon the new method
of inflicting legal death as deter
mined recently by the state of Ne
vada.. Nevada has at least endeavored
to be accomplishing, and for long
time gave the condemned his choice
of the rope or firing squad In
either event the duty of the sheriff
was very unpleasant In the firing
squad one cartridge was supposed to
be blank, to give each member
chance TO feel that his was the harm
less one, yet none could escape the
suspicion that his shot fat been
deadly after all Even SO. II had sew
eral advantages over hanging, as
every one realizes who ever witnessed
an execution of shis kind TOO titen
the condemned, almost no dad
than alive, has been carried bodily 10
the platform. and propped up In
chair until the trap is sprlns. Hang
ing was in vogue when IL was the
penalty for stealing sheep, and was
intended, by its very hideousness, to
put the fear of the law into the
hearts of all beholders. But was sell
dom humane; so much depended on
the skill with which the moose was
adjusted. and this takes experience.
With the frequent elections and new
officials, few had opportunity to be-
come reliable administrators With
the knot at a certain vulnerable spot.
quick jerk of the falling body will
break the neck. causing instant
death. But necks, like sheriffs, diff
fer. and the solar pexus of the neck
cannot be located with tape meas
ure: moreover. the nervous execu-
toner, anxious to have the ordeal
over with, is often clumsy, with the
result that the victim not only pays
the penalty of his life. but instead
of sudden death, he slowly strangles
which requires several minutes-an
ordeal hardly less terrible for the wit
nesses than the prisoner. One who
has witnessed four executions by
hanging, tells me that in only one
case was the neck broken and death
instantaneous; in each of the three
other executions the condemned very
slowly strangled in torture too awfu
10 describe, and yet the same sheriff
Cfficiated N each case.
Anyone at all familiar with the
various forms of execution whicl
have been used in this country could
not hesitate moment between sucE
a death, or the bloody. noisy firing
squad, and the Nevada way, in which
the relentless hand of the law stsals
in tenderly and unrecognized And yet
certain writer's have worked them
selves into almost frenzy, with pic
lures of terrified days and sleepless
nights and "tortures of the magma
ton" The Nevada law provides for
a death chamber where the con
demned is to be confined for from SO
to 90 days. At some hour after the
60 days, preferably while asleep al
night, an odorless gas. which causes
no pain, and which cannot even be
Ia Int he 81, har ND
death occurs without suggestion OF
discomfort. The condemned simply
sleeps or falls asleep and does MOI
awaken.
These writer's with the vivid i'm
agination and more anxious to make
a sensational story than calmly con
slider the actual facts, picture the
mental agony of coming death be
cause the exact moment is unknown
Yet, each of us who reads these word
must die, although we do not know
how or when. Yet the thought of the
when we do think of IL
does not destroy our happiness or
change our plan of life. The psychol
OSy VI lhC Nthth Pti AohNo VI
this. even though the method and the
time are known.
Hundreds of cases are in evidence
where the condemned hoped for. anf
many counted on. a reprieve which
never came. The gas chamber does
not withhold that hone. The mos
desperate criminals usually display
the least nerve. and are most fearful
of physical suffering; the gas cham
Der promises a painless death. The
gas execution will be found to cause
the prisoner the least apprehension
possible. The first few weeks he
knows he is immune. and by that
time the end still seems afar off.
The hearty breakfast which most to-
be executed men demand. indicate
how easy it is to divert the mind
from the great event to trivial things.
The gas can be counted on to ac-
its mission a day. or sew
eral days, before the condemned an.
ticipates his end. with the chances