Monday, February 8, 2010

This Day in History

I don’t know if any of you are with me, but I’m sort of a history buff. I love learning about the past and sometimes I wish I could transport myself back in time to see what life was like. Since I am so interested in history, I thought I’d try to start a little series called “This Day in History”. I got the idea from the History Channel online. (hopefully nobody is offended if I borrow their idea – I give them FULL CREDIT!) Some days there may be nothing “interesting” going on, but then on others maybe there will be a little tidbit in info I find to be cool. In that case, I’ll share it with you! I hope you enjoy!

February 8, 1924

On this date in 1924 the very first execution by lethal gas was carried out. The person’s name was Gee Jon, and he was a member of a Chinese Gang. He was convicted of murdering a rival gang member. The first execution by lethal gas took place in Carson City, Nevada. The standard ways of execution back in the early 1900’s was hanging, firing squad, or electrocution. Lethal gas was considered a more “humane” way of performing executions and was adopted as the sole method in Nevada in 1921. [Nevada State Library & Archives]

During a lethal gas execution, the prisoner is sealed in an airtight chamber and either potassium cyanide or sodium cyanide is dropped into a pan of hydrochloric acid. This produces hydrocyanic gas, which destroys a human body's ability to process blood hemoglobin. The prisoner falls unconscious within seconds and chokes to death, unless he or she holds his or her breath, in which case the prisoner often suffers violent convulsions for up to a minute before dying. [Discovery Channel.com]

1 comment:

  1. Very interesting!!! I love "this day in history" stuff. We are addicted to the history channel!

    ReplyDelete