Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-02
GAMBLER EXECUTED
IN GAS CHAMBER.
Smiles as He Enters Stone
Room He Helped to
Build.
81 the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
CARSON CITY, New, June ar. H.
Bob" White, Elko gambler, died today
in the lethal gas chamber at the Nevada
State Prison here. He had been con-
victed on circumstantial evidence Of
the murder of Louis Lavell, another
alleged gambler.
white was taken at 4:40 am. into
the stone chamber he helped build
an air-tight room 9 feet long and
wide and z highland strapped into q
chair.
He smiled and nodded to persons
peertng through a window. There were
So witnesses, including women.
Before Whites chair stood 2-gallon
crockery jar containing quart of sui
phuric acid and half gallon OF water.
Breathes Deeply; Dies.
A string extending into the next
room was pulled, opening a container,
dropping nearly dozen 1~ounce eggs"
Of cyanide of potassium into the acid
solution. The deadly gas was gener-
ated almost instantly.
White nodded again as the gas
started to come up from the generator.
Then he took q deep breath, as deep
as he could inhale. He leaned back
easily. At the third breath his head
fell back. His arms and body twitched
as in a convulsion, then was still.
Three minutes after he entered the
death chamber he apparently was dead.
White did not appear nervous. He
shook hands with the warden and the
other two men who helped strap him In
the chair.
He was dressed in a blue shirt and
pair Of overalls.
Miss Margaret Skeeter, r. NJ, Reno,
and Miss May e. Kenney, another
nurse, Carson City, were the women
witnesses. They were admitted at their
own request.
White had declined breakfast. He
went to sleep about II pm, and when
the night guard went of was stu
asleep. He was awakened about half
an hour before the execution.
No Minister.
There was no minister present. White
wanted none.
His last act was the writing of q
letter to his wife last night.
His body will be taken to Oakland
for cremation.
White, after his conviction, asked that
he be executed in the gas chamber
rather than to serve a life term in the
prison.
1.-THE gas does not frighten me-" he
said. LET me take it and get it over
with. It will be better for my wife, for
If I went to prison she would want to
remain here and her life would be
wasted. This way she can return to
Ireland and in few years forget me
and perhaps be happy"
The condemned mans wife, however,
persuaded him to appeal the death
sentence.
While waiting for the State Supreme
Courts decision, White spent nearly q
year in the prison and assisted in carry
ing stone from the prison quarry for
the construction of the death chamber.
The Supreme Court ruled that the
death sentence must be carried out, and
White was notified by the warden, who
had last wish.
"You might get me gas mask" the
gambler said, laughing, II think could
use that better than anything you could
get for me just now"
Officially, the gas was turned on at
4:37R am. Whites heart stopped beat
ing for 10 seconds at 4:39ia and natural
beathing stopped at 4:391a. After a
lapse of 10 seconds the heart started
beating again, but stopped completely
at 4:47, ga minutes from the time the
gas was turned on.
These figures and data were given out
after the execution by DR.. Z. e. Hamer,
State health officer, who had attached
q specially devised stetheseope to the
condemned man.