EXECUTION BY POISON GAS

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 October 1931, Page 9

EXECUTION BY POISON GAS

PEOPLE WATCH SPECTACLE CARSON CITY (Nevada), Sept 4. A “humane” execution by means of poison gas was witnessed by eighty people to-day peering through glass windows into a hermetically sealed lethal chamber. They saw a murderer, smiling and grimacing, ip an effort to hold his breath and live as long as possible, and it was not until 14min ssec after the poison gas had been released that the two physicians in attendance pronounced the man dead. The man executed was Louis Cejas, a Mexican, aged 27, who had been found guilty of killing a Chinese, Charlie Fong, in a quarrel ovei’ a red-haired girl, who claimed that she was a German Countess. He expiated his crime by the method which officials of the State of Nevada claim is the “most humane method of execution in the world.”

The gas that is used in these cases is hydrocyanic gas (prussic acid), a single inhalation of which will cause instant unconsciousness, if not death. The method of administration is as follows: The man is taken into the airtight chamber, and when all preparations are complete and the moment arrives, fifteen cyanide “eggs” are dropped into a bucket which contains a solution of water and hydrochloric acid, which is placed beside the man; Life lasts as long as he holds his breath. His last request to the prison war' ders was for “a bottle of whisky and then a bottle of tomato juice on which to sober up.” The prison officials refuse to say if they granted his request.—British United Press.