The Topeka state journal., 1922-02-27
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
no K1Ln CRIMINALS BY cas-.
FREDERIC }. HASKIN. Dtrec4Os.
Washington, ID. @.


Washington. D. c., Feb. 2S.-The
use of lethal gas as means of exeout-
ing prisoners does not appear to be q
progressive step in dealing with crimi-
nails, in the opinion Of DR.. Earl Dud-
ding, head of the Prisoners Relief
society.
Doctor budding is opposed to the
death penalty in any form on the
ground that it is inefficient-that 1t
does not prevent crime nor reform
! criminals. Minnesota, without capital
punishment, has less crime. than any
other state, he says. But there ade
| only a few states where the death pen
atty is abolished, and until 1t IS gen
! orally abolished, says Doctor budding,
we should use methods of execution
which will least discredit our ciyillza-
Details Of executions by the state
are unpleasant and, therefore, it seems
people know but little about them.
They assume that electrocution IS
swift and painless. Mt has a modern,
efficient sound and it has supplanted
death by hanging in a number OF
states.
Doctor budding has personally made
tests at prison executions. and he flnos
| that contrary to general opinion the
most humane method of execution IN
use is hanging. That is, hanging is
/ less painful to the condemned man
than electrocution, and all things con-
sidered would probably be far less OF
an ordeal than the gas method WHICH
! one state is to try out in April.
| death by hanging" Doctor Dud-
/ ding explained. lis usually instanta-
neous Where death does not take
place at once the shock or the drop
I causes Inconsistencies. The prepara-
tions at the scaffold take about a
minute Several men are there, each
ready for the signal. When it is given:
| one man straps together the hands OF
| the condemned man. aother tles ms
| knees and a third his ankles II Is
done swiftly, and there is singing going
on or the sheriff or some one else talks
| to the man to lessen the strain. Often
he does not realize he is being tiled.
Springing the Trap.
| "Then the black cap is quickly
{ slipped over his head and the trap Is
| sprung-perhaps six men press SIX
buttons. One of these buttons-none
of the six men knows which one
starts a motor to whirling. This in
J stantly pulls out the pins which hold
the trap. and it drops with crash.
! "On one occasion I got hold of the
mans pulse about three seconds after
the drop and there was only little
! flutter.
"Electrocution. on the other hand,
| is not so swiftly certain as hanging
even when the most efficient equip
ment is used I saw a man electro
cuted in Ohio. It takes about as long
to prepare for'an electrocution as for
a hanging. The man is strapped into
the chair tightly. His wrists are wet,
and generally a wet rug is placed un-
der his feet to insure the contact.
'T made an arrangement with this
condemned man, confidentially. that
he would move his finger as long as
he could. They turned on enough
current to kill him. supposedly. In
spite of the straps the body twisted
and was horribly contorted by the
force. In about half a minute they
turned on n second current and he
was still moving his finger. This is
not instantaneous DEATH
Doctor budding explained that the
gas method is a new idea and that
people can merely conjecture regard
ing it. After talking with a number
of persons intert sted in penology he
found that the consensus of opinion
was that they would prefer a swift
death by hanging to less violent one
which would take place at an unspe-
Gifted moment. The actual experience
of being gassed might or might not be
so uncomfortable as being hung. But
it is the uncertainty. the fact that a
week is to be set aside for the eXecu
ton, and that the prisoner is put into
the specially constructed death cell
knowing that during the week, un-
known to him, the gas is to be intro
duced into the cell, that strikes many
people as repulsive.
AgOnies of Suspense.
The last few hours before facing the
gallows or the chair are an ordeal. 1t
is often necessary to give the sem
fenced man some stimulant. Whisky
used to be given for this purpose; now
strychnine is generally administered.
But imagine the suspense of know
n x5rff cor oh f1-ao T
the week before your death may come.
Imagine being keyed up to that fear
and expectation for a week or part of
one, and you have something like the
situation in Poe's famous "Pit and
the 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 may be SUCH
That depends on the kind Of gas used
and the swiftness of the death. But
the gradual approach, thru a possible
week. is very reminiscent of the wom-
an who felt so sorry for the poor lob
sters she had to boil that she put them
in cold water and heated them up
slowly.
In the experiment with gas four
Chinese tongmen are to be used as
subjects. For tkis reason it is possible
that the test may not be as illuminate
ing as it would be if men of the west
ern world were to be executed The
Chlnese were experts in mental or
deals when Europe was dealing with
crude physical tJrture. The Orient
sometimes forced a man to confess by
preventing him from getting any sleep
"A third degree method which few
prisoners could stand for many DAYS
whether the Chinese tongman of
today would show more stolid poise
than an occidental in the face of un-
certain but inevitable death remains
TO be seem 1t is possible that he
might. In any event, the test might
be repeated on Americans with entire |
ly different results
Gas Move Has Significance.
That a state is attempting, success
fully or not, to humanize the execution |
of criminals is significant. 1t means
that there is strong sentiment against
the violence of hanging and electrocu-
ton. 1t is an interesting fact that