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4. The Gas Chamber

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Last Words of the Executed
This chapter is in the book Last Words of the Executed
175chapterfourTHE GAS CHAMBERThe first words—the first last words—uttered from the gas cham-ber are lost. On February 7, 1924, in Carson City’s Nevada State Prison, Gee Jon, a Chinese immigrant, was the first person to die in the gas chamber. Officials had built the three- room chamber out-side the prison to placate concerns about gas leaking from the cell. Gee died in six minutes, according to newspaper accounts. “When the gas was turned on,” reads a Boston Globe story, “he raised his head and looked around at the hissing sound of the liquid hydro-cyanic acid being blown in. . . . Then his head fell forward. His ex-pression remained placid during the six minutes he continued to breathe. His head rolled back and fell forward periodically.” His last words, if he had any, do not survive.But the gas chamber would mark a turning point in the last- words ritual. In some cases history has recorded not only a last for-mal statement but also a final exclamation. For the first time, in-mates could now talk during the execution, as the cyanide pellets mixed with sulfuric acid and the gas overwhelmed them. Famously, in 1943, convicted murderer Warren Cramer said, “I can’t smell anything yet,” as his execution began. Then, a moment later: “It smells like rotten eggs.”Until the 1920s, the United States relied on two methods to ex-ecute most condemned inmates: hanging and electrocution. Both
© 2019 University of Chicago Press

175chapterfourTHE GAS CHAMBERThe first words—the first last words—uttered from the gas cham-ber are lost. On February 7, 1924, in Carson City’s Nevada State Prison, Gee Jon, a Chinese immigrant, was the first person to die in the gas chamber. Officials had built the three- room chamber out-side the prison to placate concerns about gas leaking from the cell. Gee died in six minutes, according to newspaper accounts. “When the gas was turned on,” reads a Boston Globe story, “he raised his head and looked around at the hissing sound of the liquid hydro-cyanic acid being blown in. . . . Then his head fell forward. His ex-pression remained placid during the six minutes he continued to breathe. His head rolled back and fell forward periodically.” His last words, if he had any, do not survive.But the gas chamber would mark a turning point in the last- words ritual. In some cases history has recorded not only a last for-mal statement but also a final exclamation. For the first time, in-mates could now talk during the execution, as the cyanide pellets mixed with sulfuric acid and the gas overwhelmed them. Famously, in 1943, convicted murderer Warren Cramer said, “I can’t smell anything yet,” as his execution began. Then, a moment later: “It smells like rotten eggs.”Until the 1920s, the United States relied on two methods to ex-ecute most condemned inmates: hanging and electrocution. Both
© 2019 University of Chicago Press

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. Foreword ix
  4. Introduction 1
  5. 1. The Noose 9
  6. 2. The Firing Squad 101
  7. 3. The Electric Chair 125
  8. 4. The Gas Chamber 175
  9. 5. Lethal Injection 191
  10. A Note on Accuracy and Sources 273
  11. Timeline of Capital Punishment in the United States 277
  12. Acknowledgments 281
  13. Bibliography 283
  14. Index 287
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https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226202693-006

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. Foreword ix
  4. Introduction 1
  5. 1. The Noose 9
  6. 2. The Firing Squad 101
  7. 3. The Electric Chair 125
  8. 4. The Gas Chamber 175
  9. 5. Lethal Injection 191
  10. A Note on Accuracy and Sources 273
  11. Timeline of Capital Punishment in the United States 277
  12. Acknowledgments 281
  13. Bibliography 283
  14. Index 287
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