Pueblo chieftain., 1922-02-26
TO KILL CRIMINALS BY GAS

| knowing that during the week, un.
| known to him the gas N to be intro
duced into the cell, that strikes many
people as repuisive.
AGONIEs OF SUSPENSE
The last few hours before facing
the gallows or the chair are an ordeal
1t is often necessary to give the sen
| fenced man some stimulant. Whisky
used to be given for this purpose: now
strychnfne is generally administered
But imagine the suspense of know
ing that with each dragging minute
of the week before your death may
| come. Imagine being keyed up tc
that fear and expectation for a week
or part of one, and you have some
thing like the situation in Poc's ia
nous Pit and tho Pendulum"
! There is of course no intention on
/ the part OF the state officials to make
death more difficult The experiment
is being tried as a humane measure,
and the actual gassing naye be such.
That depends on the kind of gas used
and the swiftness OF the death. But
the gradual approach, through a pos-
sihle week, IL very reminiscent of tho
woman who felt so sorry for the poor
Holsters she had to boil that she put
Y them in cold water and heated them
| up slowly.
In tho experiment with gas four
Chinese tongmen are to be used as
subjects. For this reason it Is pos
sihle that the. test may not be as
Illuminating as 1t would be II men OF
the western world were to be execut-
ed, Tho Chinese were experts in meu-
tai ordeals when Europe was dealing
with crude physical torture. The
Orient sometimes forced a man to
confess by preventing him from get
ting any slcep-a third degree method
which few prisoners could stand for
many days.
Whaher the Chinese tonEn1an of
today would show more atolid poIso
than an occidental in the face OF un-
certain but Inevitable death remains
10 he seen. II IL possible that he
might In any event. the test might
be repeated on Americans with en-
tireiy different results.
GAS MOVE HAS SIGNIFICANCE
That a state IL attempting. success
fully or not. to humanize the execu-
ton OF criminals Is significant. II
means that there Ii strong sentiment
against the violence of hanging and
eiectrocution. II Is an interesting
fact that when the public used to he
invited TO executions. and even now
when prison inmates are sometimes
forced to look on at such scenes. the
results are far from salutary. Pris-
oners become enraEcd and embiftered
at tho state doing what It condemns
taking life. Perhaps tho man was
not convicted beyond doubt. Men
havo been executed and later eroncr-
ated or tho blame for tho crime for
which they died.
Tho public. too. revoted a. hang
ings- DIR. budding tells of a public
hanging that was held In ono county
OF West Virginia. Crowds came to
the sight The man sentenced to die
had killed his sweetheart Hs walk
cd to tho Raliows with n rcd rose IN
his buttonhols and his mother and
sister came with him TO tell him
goodbye.
The militia was called out" Say-
Dr. budding. and being a member L
was there. II was tho most impress
Sive sight ever witnessed. Tho
sheriff was 20 overcome with emotion
that hc could not stand the suspense
He pulled tho lever and killed tho
man before tho signal was given,
The hanging was held publicly
with tho idea that Il would be a warn
ing agninst crime. Tho effect tina, Il,
had was to arouse n county-wide
hntipathy toward tho death penalty
They have never been able 10 ret a
jury TO ngroe TO the death penalty in
DIR. DuDDrNG's OWN
EXPERIENCE
Later. DR.. Duddlng wa, on trial
IN this sama county for killing a man
IN self defcnsc. Candidates for the
jury were asked as usual n they had
any objection TO capital punishment
IN proper cases. and out OF 15O mon
fully 100 were told TO stop aside after
answering that they did object. Those
who were chosen would probably
havc refused to consider any specific
case proper for cal pitai punishment.
Tho death penalty continues" DR..
budding explains. because peopie do
not know much about it and bocnuS-
OF tho belief that IL is a deterrent of
crime. II II snfe to say that no GRIM
lnnl thinks Of tho death penalty when
no commits a crime. And thcro IL
Just as much law breaking IN states
whero the death penalty is often pro-
nounced az In states where there is a
strong sentiment sgains, T..
Violence is no curative. What We
'h"ild substitute for violence Is edu-
cation. and progressive methods Of
dealing with prisoners No one bone-
tits by tho execution Of slayer. His
family is lott dlsgraccd. perhaps de-
pendent. often aome Other family
That of tho victim of tho crimo-is left
dependent, Porhap. II tho man worr
allowed to work IN tho pcnl.cutiary- at
a Reasonable wage and the money sent
to support those he had wrongcd some
good might come Of tho sentence rather
than only suffering to tho Innocent
families involved"