GAS FOR DEATH PENALTY.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 June 1921, Page 3

GAS FOR DEATH PENALTY.

NEVADA’S NEW DAW ( ,y Lethal gas as a means of inflicting the death sentence is now to be given a test (says the New York Times). Electrocution marked the first attempt in this country to find a method better from all standpoints than hanging. The use of gas is the second. The advo- ■ cates of this method claim that it is an improvement on death by the electric current.

Emmet D. Boyle, Governor of Nevada, ■signed in April the Bill which provides for the execution of condemned men by the use of lethal gas in that State, instead of by a choice between shooting dr hanging.

The death warrant for a condemned criminal, according to the new law, must designate a week within which the death penalty is to be inflicted—a week not more than ninety and not less than sixty days after judgment. The condemned man is to be assigned to a room suitable for the purpose, and some time during the week lethal gas is to

be turned on while the prisoner sleeps. Critics of the measure have expressed doubt whether sleep is possible under these conditions. They assert that the suspense involved is likely to render this form of death more terrible than any now in use. Only actual demonstration can reveal liow humane it. may bp. It does not seem likely that an opportunity will be afforded very soon to test the new law. It has been about seven years since an execution took place in Nevada, and the old deathhouse has been used for some time to store old furniture and to give visitors to the historic prison the gruesome thrill of standing on the scaffold with a rope around their necks. is comparatively little crime in Nevada, even in proportion to the population, about 77,000 people in an area of 110,000 square milfes. Prohibition went into effect there' two years before the Federal amendment was put through, and it is rigidly enforced, even to the extent of forbidding the sale of vairila, lemon, antj other flavoring extracts containing alcohol. Gunfighting more or less has gone out of fashion, and the chief crimes are now burglary, cattle steal-

ing, “paper hanging,” the Nevada nickname for forgery, and sometimes a “killing,” more often than not among the Mexican element.

Nevada has stood for many years in the front rank for progressive methods of dealing wflth criminals. Governor Boyle, now serving the latter half of his second four-ycar term, is himself responsible. for many of these reforms.

Nevada was the first .State to adopt the iildeterminate sentence. There all criminals except those guilty of a capital offence are sentenced to from one to fourteen years, at the discretion of a parole and pardon board, of which the Governor is chairman. -Until recently it was possible for a prisoner to apply for and obtain a parole after having served a very short time, but the privilege was abused to an extent that made it necessary to rule that the minimum sentence must be served before a parole is granted. Some paroles permit the trusty 'to work at his trade during the day provided he returns to be locked up. every night. Others are allowed to live

at a distance, and report by letter, i£ their behavior warrants such a degree of leniency. Whatever the criticism, 'the paroling of prisoners at least has the effect of solving the problem of the support of their families. A man who can shw willingness and ability to take care of his family is, when he makes his application for a parole, very likely to find Governor Boyle on his side, and with him a majority of the board. The proportion of guards to the number of prisoners makes escapes from prison fairly frequent. This, however, is not nearly so serious a matter in Nevada as it is in New York. Carson

City, the capital, where the prison is situated, is 32 from the main line of the railroad, and escapes must be made on foot through the desert, where there is many a rattlesnake, and many a mile between drinks. Specimens of prisoners’ footprints are kept on record, and portions of their heckling or clothes which can be given to the little bloodhound that is always on duty for the purpose of picking up the scent. A string of horses is always ready for the pursuit, and it is seldom that more than a day or two elapse before the fugitives are brought back.