Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-29

IL
Buffers Of Melbourne Is so i'm
pressed with the appearance Of
i those South Australian rubies
that he Is sending home a
bottleful to England. Mr.. Buffers Is
doing this to ascertain the value Of the
precious gems per ton. If they come
up to expectations, we intend to order
! a tundredweight ourselves. Perhaps 1t
is now hardly remembered that years
and years ago somebody found lump
of rock-crysta1 at Nudge and palmed
it of on Buffers as gigantic diamond,
Mr.. Buffers really believed that he had
new Kohinoor, and exhibited it as
such in the window of a fashionable
Collins street jeweler. And when the
bubble burst, the wicked confectioners
of Bourke street-irreverent scoffers
! who in olden times would have been
gobbled up by bears-mockingly showed
in their windows big hunks Of candy
labeled Buffers Diamonds"
y II ~
Use of Gas Favored
For Executions.
Cologne Gazette.-A form of legal
execution which might well be adopted
in Germany is that by gas, which has
been used in the United States since
| 1921, chiefly in Nevada. In that year
to suffer capital punishment by this
method. The second to die In the same
manner was Stanko Jukich, and the
third instance of gas execution was
that of Robert White on June 2, 1880.
Whites case is especially interesting,
inaSmuch as 1t was the first event of
the kind that was scientifically OBJ
served. It was consummated in q stone
chamber 8 feet long, 8 feet wide and
feet high. CA foot is equal to 30.4
! centimeters.) The chamber was con-
structed specially for this purpose, air.
tight, and fitted with glazed windows
through which the witnesses, in this
| instance SO persons, could view the
operation. White was placed upon a
chair in this small room. On the
ground before him was placed a bowl
containing a quart (1.13 liters) of sui
phuric acid and a gallon of water CAS-
| tablets Of cyanalkine was so placed
that when a cord was pulled the tablets
fell into the acid in the bowl and i'm
mediately began to generate the fatal
gas. This impregnation Of the atmoS-
phere in the death chamber, which be-
| gan at 4:3712 am, rendered White
completely unconscious within half q
| minute, though the execution was not
officially concluded for a period Of nine
minutes more. Through stethoscope
and other instruments adjusted to
Whites body and connected by wires
| to the exterior of the cell, DR.. Edward
G. Hamer, the chief official surgeon of
| Nevada, was able to determine to the
second when animation had ceased.
In countries where capital punish
ment is still enforced, we believe this
method of execution is the most instan-
taneous and merciful, and far superior
to any method yet used upon the Euro
pean continent. There is too great a
risk in the employment Of human
hands, nervous at such time, despite
their adroitneSs, and in the use of
| faulty and cumbersome apparatus. Ger
| tainly the Nevada method is superior to
the headsman, the relic of barbarous
past and a dreadful minion of the law
not long obsoleted, even in Germany.
| X X 4 X
American Philosophy
Seen In Song.
Ell Concrete, Lima-"Cantando bajo
! la Lluvia" (Singing In the RAIN has
long been popular air in the United
States. And we believe that the title
of this song contains in epitome all the
philosophy and indomitability of the
North American Republic. It Is a
country that is never disheartened by
reverses nor made morose by defeat.
True, its defeats have been few, for
whatever America set about to do she
generally accomplished, but 1t cannot
be denied that the will to press on, no
matter how dark the outlook, or how
| formidable the opposition, and the
hunger for eternal effort are the fac
tors which have made her so amazing
a Nation.
The desires for progress and achieve
ment, united with unlimited natural
resources and vast domain, di6uSedly
populated with the energetic and am
bilious strains of other lands, have been
the sources of all American industrial,
scientific and financial triumphs, yet
despite the relentless pursuit Of mate
wiai flaiTi0a. America. too. has always