The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1921-04-14
NO MORE FEAR Of
ELECTRIC CHAIRS

OSSINING, N. Y.-One hundred
eighty have gone the way of the
chair" in Sing Sing prison. Last
year II men walked the march of
death through the little green door"
In the first two months of this year
three more have paid the extreme
penalty, and March was ushered in
with another electrocution.
With the announcement of these
! figures, given in an interview to the
International News Service recently,
Warden Lewis E. Lawes stated that
fear of electrocution no longer ex-
lists In the criminal mind.
"Electrocution as at present car
ried out does not keep down the
number of murderers," he said in dis
cussing the recent crime wave which
had swept the country and has been
attended by many wanton killings.
THE list of murderers has grown
appallingly all over the country.
Most of them have been committed,
not for some great or fancied wrong,
but in connection with holdups and
petty robberies. the taking of life lit
orally for a song. Warden Lawes
stated that possibly this is due to an
after-the-war condition. Certain it is
that life is held cheaply now and to
many of criminal instincts life is a
cheap gamble and the electric chair
is no longer spectre to deter them
from capital crimes.
THE odds are all with the MUIR
derer in this gamble" said Warden
Lawes. "The percentage of those
actually executed is so small com
pared to the number of murders COM
mitted that capital punishment fails
as a deterrent. Here is another as
founding fact" said Warden Lawes
THE majority of men who now occu-
by the death house have not been
previously confined in prison."
Life, indeed, has become cheap
gamble In fact, there now exists a
spirit of brayado such as never be-
fore has been manifest A typical in
stance of this was shown not SO long
ago when five condemned men were
put to death at Sing Sing in a space
of little over an hour, passing one
after the other into the death cham
Der.
"Give her the gas-turn on the
juice" said one of the men as he
was strapped into the chair
At Sing Sing, where all electrocu-
tons for New York state are now
carried out, the toll of lives in exact
ing the extreme penalty is higher
than in any other prison in the coun-
try because of the large state popu-
lation. But in many of the thirty
states which have capital punish
ment the stout oaken chair with its
electrodes and straps has worked
wv Al ACNCht hiOhtlo- xanQ III
all the electrocutions are carried out
in practically the same manner
Science has made wonderful progress
in recent years in prolonging life,
new serums and anti-toxins have
been discovered and surgery has ad-
vanced to a marked degree, but the
method of taking life remains the
same.
"Electrocution was introduced in
this state nearly thirty years ago"
said Warden Lawes, but the chair
today Is the same as 1t has always
been. Except for the amount of cur
rent used and the length of the con-
tact, there has been no change. In
former years 1900 volts were used
Today 1000 volts are used and better
results obtained"
Asked whether he did not think
that in time science will bring forth
some radically new and different
method of carrying out the mandate
of capital punishment Warden Lawes
replied that he did not believe any
change would be made. eff capital
punishment Is necessary" he said,
electrocution is both effective and
humane as to method.
"All prisons are using practically
the same methods. From the time
the contact is given until pronounced
dead by the physician, the average
is eight minutes. The first contact is
for period of one minute and fifteen
seconds. The second is usually for