THE FIRST EXECUTION IN THE GAS CHAMBER
The first gas chamber in Nevada.
A characteristic feature of Americans is that they are constantly trying to invent something new to make their lives and work easier. This also applied to executions. The Americans did not limit themselves to the invention of the electric chair, although it has become as iconic an item for this country as the guillotine for France. In 1924, the United States tested the execution of criminals in a gas chamber. In this, the Americans were again ahead of the whole planet, because in the USSR they thought of using a gas chamber only in the late 30s, and in Germany, where they were used only during the Second World War.
On February 8, 1924, a gas chamber invented by Dr. Allen Hamilton was used for the first time for execution in the Nevada State Prison (Carson City) USA. A pound of sodium cyanide crystals was mixed with dilute sulfuric acid, which resulted in cyanide gas (hydrogen cyanide gas). However, it turned out to be not an ideal means to send people to the next world. The first person to experience it for himself is Gee Jon, a Chinese gang member convicted of murdering a rival gang member. However, in various sources he is also called Gee Jon and Tong Lee.
Ji Yong came to the United States illegally from China. There he joined a Chinese gang and one day received an order to kill a certain Vietnamese Tom Kwong Ki, who lived in the town of Mina (Nevada). At that time, a whole criminal war broke out in the western United States between criminal communities of Chinese and Vietnamese. Ji fulfilled the order, but was captured. In order to frighten the Chinese and Vietnamese, Ji Yong was unusually quickly sentenced to death. His 19-year-old accomplice, given his young age, was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Around 9 a.m. on February 8, 1924, a 29-year-old Chinese man, Ji Yong, was taken to the gas chamber and forcibly tied to a chair in the center. The guards went out and locked the heavy door behind them. Twelve witnesses — reporters, doctors and army officers-took their places in front of the window to observe the last moments of the convict’s life.
At 9:40 a.m., four pounds of hydrogen cyanide liquid, which should have started to evaporate immediately under the influence of heat, were poured into the chamber, but most of the substance accumulated on the floor because it was cold due to a breakdown of the electric heater – only 11 degrees Celsius. Lee desperately fought death for two minutes, holding his breath and trying to free himself from the straps, until finally his body went limp and he lost consciousness. «At first there was an expression of horror, pain and suffocation on his face. Then the eyes popped out of their sockets, the skin turned purple and the victim began to drool,» eyewitnesses said.
To be sure, the corpse of the executed man was kept in the cell for another half hour while a fan expelled poisonous gas from it. Seven doctors pronounced the convict dead, but refused to perform an autopsy, fearing that poisonous gas could accumulate in various cavities of Yon’s body.
However, the experiment was generally recognized as successful, and by 1960 the gas chamber was already used in ten American states. Despite the fact that in the last minutes of his life the body of a convict is convulsing, this method was considered more humane than death by hanging or the electric chair.
Oleg Loginov
*Translated using an electronic dictionary. The original text in Russian and much more on the criminal topic can be selected on the main page of the site — https://crimerecords.info/
