The Washington times., 1936-08-01
THE THINGS WE DO

Arizona seems 10 leau GLe pro
ceSSion of death bunglers as wit
ness the full Is minutes of agony
which they have imposed on an
Apache Indian who, while liquor
crazed, killed his wife and little
son. This was the same State
and for all I know the same hang,
man-to yank the head clean off
an old murderess a couple of years
ago. The rope decapitated her
in the fashion of an axe. An in
telligent doctor and an intelligent
hangman would have gagged the
right drop.
This last execution reads like a
lynching. They kept the doomed
man sitting for five hours in front
of the instrument of torture which
Of all things was a rock crusher
with the galloWs pole above the
hole through which the stone is
Shoveled.
When these barbarianS dropped
their man his feet caught on the
edge of the breaker and he dan
gled by his heels at that end while
he dangled by his neck at the
other. There he strangled to
death, taking Is minutes to lose
consciousness as evinced by the
noise he made. The officers of
the law debated among themselves
whether they should unhang him
and hang him over again or just
let him hang till he was dead.
The majority decided to let we'll
enough alone but nobody had
sense enough to unlock his feet
from the cruSher.
The only ghaStly parallel to this
Arizona Slow-killing witnessed by
the writer was at the execution of
Charles Becker, New York police
lieutenant, who followed to the
electric chair the four men he had
ordered to kill the squealing gam
bier, Herman RoSenthal. These
were to give them their mob mon
ickerS. Lefty Louis, Whitley Lewis,
Dago Frank and Gyp the Blood.
Becker came along prepared to
take 1t like man. The death hat
was adjusted on his head and the
electrodes to his barred leg. Every
thing went as fast as these things
do except in Arizona-and the
executioner threw in the first jolt.
That is, we all believed he threw
1t in. But simultaneously the
headgear jerked to the left side of
Becker's face so that it cooked at
the angle so fashionable today
among women.
The current was off. Becker's
face jerked. If he was able to
speak, he did not speak. I hope
he was dead, but I doubt it. The
features quivered too much for
consciousness to have entirely de-
parted. The guards adjusted the
death hat in less time than it
takes to tell it. This time it stayed
in the right place and Becker died.
It was a messy show to watch.
About as rough but speedy a
legal killing as has happened in
this country in recent years was
that of Gerald Chapman, the ace
bond thief and bank burglar who
paid the penalty for numbering a
policeman. He was hanged in
WeatherSfield, Conn, that State
utilizing stone instead of a
Stone-cruSher.
The rope disappeared through
a hole in the ceiling Of the death
chamber. It traverSed the roof
and, over the edge, was fastened
to a great slab of stone which
rested on a narrow board. There
was a 12-foot drop provided for
the stone and the death chamber
was "a feet from floor to ceiling.
The rope, very near to taut, was
adjusted round Chapman's neck
and at a signal from the warden
two men watching at an upper
window released the stone. It
dropped plummetlike for it's al
lotted IL feet and Chapman
bounced almost to the ceiling. He
came down as the stone had done,
bounced slightly once more and
was still. Except for the first ride
heavenward, it seemed to be a
merciful death.
At the start of the war British
courtS-martial on the field were OF
the opinion that death by firing
squad for any exhibition, even
vaguely approaching coWardice,
was good for morale" So they
killed somewhat Unfortunately
a fashion which Haig ended when
he took command, although there
was many man shot for nerves
from that time till the end.
There was an execution at
Hooge one winters morning
which, according to the minutes
of the court-martial, was purely
exemplary for the battalion
which had not been doing any toe
we'll under fire. The young man
who was to serve as the example
however, had not had any part in
the recent fiasco. He had merely
overstayed his leave, been arrested
in London and brought back as
near to the front lines as his bat
talon happened to be.
The night before he was to die
he was allowed to drink as much
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