Nevada State Journal from Reno, Nevada • 1

4 3 tU 5 a A 5 MADOO SCORES Gee Jon Thomas Russell tur the lined they Mon because a 'small an gone 15 or 20 14 AORIT ON RIVER ICE CAKES IM 1 A I' I di and own Gee Jon lie stop the car ALONE TO ACE END IN VAPORS Saved burned time4 that the Pappas bought a Mina saloOn first cap man last (last 1913 LAST MINUTE REPRIEVE IS GRANTED TO MEXICAN ALL GRILL ABANDONED BY SENATE COMMITTEE Amazing Cause Ex Secretary to Leave Production Company a Constitutional Rights Are Up held by Special Counsel in Probe The highest temperature reached yesterday was 56 degrees lowest 43 riday occasionally rain the warden would be no' dan ger to: the witnesses tomdrrow Russell Ever Confident men were given'their first opportunity to interview Russell and Gee time did would be out hope county fair the hours immediately folowing county was in the grip ot from a probable fate of being at the stake by vengeanee Indians to die 'by gas in the state penitentiary for the of his Indian sweetheart Ma courtTwith an application for a of habeas corpus on the ground Gee Jon is being denied due pro of law on account of being in not subject to punishment the Nevada law is invalid in been reversed 4 After this petition for a writ of er ror was presented to the United States erne court1 tms oeing ueiueu wothe judge presiding over this Cir This resulted in tne euuiuiauuu ie federal' angle of the case no violated Hence the writ of failed 4 Walsh' then tixea nine aays Reasonable Doubt as to Class of Crime Declared Cause of Commutation Nevada to Carry Out Strange Executiorfof Gee Jon at Ten A a 00W BREAKS WITH DIE IRM SECRET PACT CUINI CAUSES WORD IGHT murder mie Johnny and' grunted an eleventh hour reprieve last night by the state board of pardons is the fate of de bonair Thomas Russell Mexican who today was to have paid the supreme penalty for his deed The crime of which Russell was con victed was committed lu Elko Sep tember 16 1922 the last day of the Elko In Elko moil Russell fled on the first train Search Starts Indian tribesmen of the dead sought revenge Encamped on outskirts of Elko they watched every train in hope of capturing her slayer and dealing out justice they had learn ed from their fathers ully 300 along the railroad track 'irmed knives and whatever weapons could lay their hands on The fugitive was captured at telo east of Elko and when Sheriff Harris started to return with him an Indian lynching seemed imminent However an automobile was brought to the rear of the train and under the very eyes of the Indians the Mex ican was spirited away front the ob servation car and lockedin the coun ty jail oiled at this turn the chief and other members of the tribe visited the district attorney's office and begged that Russell bey turned over to them for punishment man law kill too was their plea Their idea had been to burri the murderer at the stake it was after wards stated or several days the Indians re mained about the city hoping that a chance would offer whereby Russell could be delivered into their hands but as time wore on they abandoned their hopes and departed to the camps' Russell Composed At the preliminary hearing when the mother of the dead girl and her 12 year old sister who had the slaying told of the incidents con nected with the crime Russell was the (Continued on Page 2 Column 2) Eyes of World ocus on Unique Execution ByNetda as Death of Chinese Approaches ate Plays A Queer Trick i I A Nevada Warden Twice orced to Plan for ew Execution Methods VOL 49 NO 315 Jon tod ay Russell at that not know that his 'sentence commuted but he still held that his life would be saved old squaw will tell the truth? he said He was cheer fu when the newspaper men lined up outside his cell and chatted freelywith them One thing which stuck out in Rus talk' today' was his contention that he was innocent am' not afraid to die" he said did not Mamie Johnny I ani 'this worlds Why should I lie about Gee Jon possibly because of his lack of knowledge of the English? Jap guageand possibly because of his bf the morrow refused: to talk' He failed to understand the questions i(! asked of him and when Warden Dick erson offered to secure an interpreter he said no He want to talk about lethal gas or how 'he felt or whether he was afraid he indicated" Just a moment before lOSBiclock to morrow morning the depth march across the little prison yard will be made ortified with extra guards the warden will lead the Chinese slayer from his cell through the nar row corridor and out into ythe open air His taste of air untainted Aby prison odors will be brief for it is only a short distance from the cell house to the death chamber' Oyer the playground of prehistortc men sters 1 across the bed of laW thdtt sands of years old he wlU be led' RENO NEVADA RIDA EBRUARY 8 1924 Tong War to Bring Death To Assassin 4 'i' Aged Chinese Victiih of Murderers Oriental Ways A eatured at Trial QUEBEC eb 7 ourteen persons were adrift on cakes of ice in the swelling waters of the St Lawrence river tonight and efforts of a ferry boat to reach them were futile The 14 members of a party of 17 who were standing on an ice bridge be tween Quebec and Levis when snapped and broke away Three were rescued Hurriedly formed rescue par ties set out for Quebec bridge toward which the ice floes were drifting in the hope that the xjescue the victims with ropes as they passed be neath them rom points along the shore it was reported as many as nine or ten persona had been 'seen on the cake of the looting ice' A tong 'feud sent Tom Quong Kee: 74 crippled and bent Chinese laun dryman of Mina to his death on the night of August 27 1921 In the minds of Chinese tong mem bers the act probably was termed justice but a Mineral county jury hearing the case before District Judge Emmet Walsh at Hawthorne call ed it murder Gee Jon a hired assassin did the killing Today he will settle his debt to the state by surrendering his life at the Carson City penitentiary Hughie Sing 19 at the time knew the old Chinese knew where he lived and was able to speak English Hughie was selected to do the talk ing when necessary to make arrange ments for the trip to Mina and to act as guide to Gee Jon the killer 5 Hughie Sing Talks 4 Hughie Sing did his part but Amer ican born and untrained in the school of stolidity that marked the character of Gee Jon the younger Chinese un der grilling told what he liew Of the murder The confession and other infor mation furnished authorities saved Hughie from the lethal gas chamber but it branded him as an outcast from his tong and marks him for death if ever lie is released from prison It was ITugie Sing who accosted George Pappas a taxi driver in Reno on the afternoon of riday August 26 and asked him how much he would charge' to take two men to Tonopah: Thirty cents a mile was the rate The next morning Gee Jon and Hughie Sing entered the taxi at Second and Lake streets After an all day and part of the night drive the party reached the outskirts of Mina about 10 Here Hughie Sing ordered the driver to stop and both Chinese got out Pappas went to sleep and when h'e awakened felt hungry and started to drive into Mina He met and Hughie Sing returning per and on orders turned urounu Hughie Sing gave hima dollar to go to Mina to get some beer Pappas testified that he minutes It' was during this crime was committed six bottles of beer at talked for few minutes to a friend (Continued on Page 2 Column 6) TONG ASSASSIN ULL ABBUUxarxiiJ jtmsb NEWS SERVICE plied Mireovich and addedjjnaybe I A a Condemned man vaim Qittinff on a stool stroking hisjignt 4 a a AM musuAcuc 1V Mireovich heard me warrani tou It is asserted that he was the calmest man of the group reading concluded Mireoylcn (Continued on 2 Column Ly Vengeance of Indian Death Plan Stopped A i1 a Russell Saved from Burning at Stake Nevada Gas Cham i ber Still Smiles Of the remarkable feaiures of the lethal gas case involving the lives of Hughie Sing and Gee Jon murder ers not the least was the legal battle waged by Defense Attorney James rame of rame Raffetto Reno Attorney rame who discounts prev alent theories of huge tong fees stuck with bulldog tenacity to Gee case first and last in Iris efforts to stay execution As late as he eve of the day of death Attorney rame went into fed eral writ that cess sane that conferring judicial powers on a non judicial officer the warden to pass upon such a vital matter as the san ity of the condenmend Judge arrington in denying the writ was of the opinion that inas much as the case rose in tlje state1 court federal jurisdiction did not at tach Governor Denies Plea Later Attorney rame interviewed the warden and called on the gover nor to request further hearing and further consideration of application to commute 'but was informed that the place was closed and that: the govern nor was" not inclined to give the mat ter further consideration 4 Then only did rame quit The originating at Mina Min eral county with the death Tom Quong Kee August 27 1921 the two Chinese Gee Jon now 31c and Hughie Sing now 21 whose sentence was commuted to life imprisonment were convicted byDistrict Judge Walsh in December of that year Date of ex ecution was fixed as January 26 1922 Motion for new trial was denied the case was taken to the Nevada su I preme court and the judgment of the lower court was affirmed although the justices were divided' two of them being of the opinion that the in struction defining murder was incor rect? but held it harmless also con ceding that the admission of certain receipts in was calculated to connect Gee Jon with the tong vbut holding this also harmless Remarks concerning tongwars and customs as made by Assistant Prose cutor George Green also were' crit icized as being of insufficient bearing on the case Gas' Law Attacked After the affirmation of judgment petition for rehearing was filed in eluding as grounds error in the admisr sion OIL conversations prejudicial re marsBy the district attorney on in structions and even tne validity or me title of the lethal act This act was attacked as specifying and punishment and hence as containing aprovision prohibited "by the national constitution The title was attacked as defective in a supple rvonal npfitinn The petitions for rehearing finally were denied However Associate Jus Coleman dissented and gavb the opinion that judgment should have been reversed 4 After this petition for a writ of er ror was presented to the United States supreme court this being denied first by cjiit rights under the constitution being IOU em a (Continued on: Page 2 Column 7) BAlt "Easier Electrolytic spot and nearby 12H12c futures 12c LEAD irm Spot i i 1 RUSSELL SAVED ROM GAS DEATH CHINESE KILLER MUST DIE TODAY 7 'i 'Ji Through the strange and inexplic able working of fate Warden Denver Dickerson is to conduct for the second time an execution in less than two time after taking charge of the Nevada state prison And for the second time Warden Dickerfton must supervise an execution by" a method not previously employed in this state and in the case of the lethal "gas execution today the of its kind Strangely' too his tain of the guard and right hand is and was at the time of the execution Joe Muller Dickersgn had charge of the execution in Nevada May 14 when Andriza Mireovich paid the ex treme penalty before a firing squad The took over his duties at the prison in April of 1913 during his reirime nnd rtnrinc his VTes I pi IV Bl nf office and has been in Into this somber gray" stone build I charge but a few weeks ing in the center of the prison yard I Dickerson has for several weeks rit Carson City Gee Jon will walk I given much thought and close atten today never to come out alive The I tion to tije multitudinous details pf the door at the right is the only means I £na appearance of the two condemn of entrance to the death chamber I e(j men on the stage of life today which occupies half of the building Quietly studiously methodically the The windows look in on the steel? I warjen' has gone about his task He cage in which the man will be plac I llas SOUght counsel invited suggestion ea i nese winauwa wm puirim me weighed cnreiully consicwi eu witnesses to watch the effect of the I jU(igerj front the standards of his gas as the Chinese inside takes I knowledge and experience into his lungs The shorter pjpe on Gallows Removed i the root IS TOT vciiuiduun ciiw I through it the gas will escape after It was only a few years ago that the execution The smallerwindow I the gallows last put in readiness for at the' right of the door looks into the execution of Nimrod Urie the dis the room where the gas tank has mantling following the repeal of the been placed In this room will stand law giving a condemned person choice the men who turn the valves which I of death by shooting or hanging but permit the gas to enter the chamber I the vises that held the rifles which Below is the view that will greet I were trained on Mireovich heart are the eyes of the condemned Chinese I still to be seen when I he steps over the threshold of Mireovich was shot shortly after 11 the door leading into the death I o'clock in the forenoon of Majr 1 chamber A prison cage 1 1913 exactly one year aftei he mu containing three compartments has I dered John Gregovich at Tonopah wl be placedr Dickers andinformed vnriAiimi lAHIinm him'that the board had refused clem Treasury iccuseo in bureau SGML J11 UUIIUI1U WWIUMWIH I £demned man all night as he had I declared "that if given something he would kill himself He slept little and WASHINGTON eb The smnul I at every movement of his guard sat dering embers of the bureau of en I up in bed He arose 'and dressed be erraving controversy which first blaz Afore 5 in the morning and ate UP year ago a wbotaule coeK dismissal of employes bj President I forenoon of the day set for the Harding again have been fanned into I execution about twenty witnesses flame were permitted to enter a roped off Charles Brewer departrpent of area in the fenced enclosure of the justice attorney who' investigated prison yard charges of duplication of government Warden Dickerson Captain Muller securities brought the case into the Lieutenant Kelly and a newspaper open today with the iumgoi sensa i represvntuLYe tional 1 charges against the treasury cell Mireovich stepped through and despite denials by Secretary Mel I the opened door and into the corri lon and other officials that dor warrant of aiegations? contained tative La Guardia republicanNew I ecution read to you asked Warden York began steps by introducing a Dickerson nf innnirv to force acoti I no understand (very we II Ji re trressional inouirv 1 1 The charges of Brewer were CQn I 30 tained in a copy of a report he had I sent previously to ewuuge i ruhhs and Attorney General Daugherty and mustache and eyin the were made public wneu at tached as exhibits to an injunction suit filed here agaigst government officials whom Brewer said were interfering with his inquiry Special to The Journal CARSON CITY eb Gee JonChinese tong slayer will go alone into the gas chamber "at the state prison tomorrow morning where he will pay with his lifefor the mur der of Tom Quong Kow aged Mina celestial the first murderer in his tory to be put to death in the man ner adopted by the state of Nevada Thomas Russell Mexican slayer of his Indian sweetheart will live! after 10 tomorrow morningthe hour set for the double execu tion Granting an eleventh hour commutation sentences the state board of pardons tonight ruled that there was a doubt as to wheth er the crime had been committed with and de termined not to claim the supreme penalty 'j The last minute order1 which savcid Russell's life came about 'by the de cision of Governor Scrugham who had previously voted agajnst comdiutihg the sentence' to extend mercy the condemned man voted for the commutation of Russell's sentence because here exist ed in my fnind reasonable doubt as to whether it was premeditated murder or committed with malice afore thought A message today from Judge McNamara recommending the commutation also influenced my de Governor Scrugham said Only one member of the board Chief Justice Ducker voted against the change Russell has maintained throughout that he was innocent and that the mother committed the crime Gee Jon Doomed No action was taken by the board pardons in the case of Gee Jon His counsel rame gave up thp years long battle to save him after the federal court had denied a writ filed in his behalf is only one hope for Gee said Mr rame tonight that is for executive Two cats today' played the leading roles in a rehearsal of the drama to be enacted tomorrow Death Penal ty ATwo little kittens proved beyond al! doubt that "the hydrocyanic gas will kill and kill quickly Just 15 seconds after the deadly vapor was sprayed into the cell just aa it will be in the case of Gee Jon the two cats were dead 1 Boxes placed in the inner cells Of the death chamber held the first vid tims of gas The gas en tcred the room with a hiss and thel kittens raised up in their tiny cells frightened possibly by the sound Then they fell back dead The ventilating system which' is in tended to clear the room of gas after the execution of the Chinese worked successfully The vapors quickly left the enclosure and a half hour later when all possibility of any of the gas remaining had been eliminated the chamber was entered and the test pronounced a success The test today probably saved some of the witnesses a whiff of the 'al mond odored gas leak was found in the chamber This was plugged ana nounced that there ar LI ix NEVADA STATE JOURNAL LONDON eb (By the Asso ciated The four cornered controversy between Lloyd George Clemenceau Poincare and Premier Macdonald over the alleged existence of a secret agreement between Presi dent Wilson and Clemenceau re specting the occupation of the land waxed warmer today Mr Mac donald criticized Lloyd George indiscreet handling of the whole mat ter condemning his attitude as inde fensible and contrary to diplomatic usage Thu has been followed by a frank ference there also was need statement by Mr Lloyd George saying among lit was ridiculous to describe the AnaHTDArll close working 1 toward which the Jaeger co Long Legal ight Made Casef Condemned ChineseCarried to High Courti to Save Lives? WASHINGTON eb William McAdoo announced here tonight that he had terminated his profes sional servicves withE Doheny California oil magnate Mr McAdoo's announcement was contained in a letter to Chairman Len root of the senate oil committee in which ho expressed the desire to tes tify before the committee immediate ly He may be heard tomorrow The former treasury secretary said he read in the newspapers Mr Doheny's disclosures about his transactions with ex Secre tary he refrained from immedi ately terminating his professional services with Mr Doheny as his first impulse shut he had done so now" that thet newspaper ac counts might be as vicious and un vu to Mr Doheny as some of them I had beep tQ PLANS ABANDONED Washington eb Abandon Ing 'further efforts to question Albett all the senate went forward today with plans to press the naval oil lease investigation along every other available channel A new grant of Authority for the committee to aot was given by the senate to remove any ground for a challenge of its jurisdiction such as that made by Mr all last Saturday when he to 'testify At the sanje time the senate voted to en large th ft' area Of naval z5 oil lands sought to 'be recovered by the gov ernment 'bv including sections 16 and 36 in the Elk' Hills Cal field now held by the Standard Oil Company of California Votes Unanimous With these two matters disposed of without debate or a dissenting vote the senate renewed its war of bitter words over the resolution callings for the resignation I of Secretary Denby but without reaching a vote Chairman Lenroot received and made public a letter from Doheny in which the oil magnate asked leave to correct his previous testimony bystating that William McAdoo form er secretary of the treasury and his one time New York law firm had re ceived only a total of 3150000 in fees from his company" instead of $350000 as originally testmea to oy xa heny Silas Strawn and Atlee Pomerene special government counsel continued their investigation into the oil cases While opposition to their selection ap parently was spreading in the senate but with few indications that it would attain proportions sufficient to pre vent their confirmation Information Sought In its inquiry as to possible 'trans actions in oil stocks by government officials the committee formally re quested certain information and rec ords of the New York stock exchange from Seymour Cromwell president of the exchange Decision of the oil committee not to recall Mr all when it resumes its public hearings tomorrow was reached upon the advice of Mr Strawn and Mr Pomerene They recommended ihnt he he not heard unless he waived his right as otherwise he might gain Immunity from prose cution 1 Ar Mr INTEREST DENIED OH 7 Standard Oil Company of California no interest direct or indirect in a single acre of naval reserve oil announcement from the pany offices here tonight said com menting on a resolution offered inthe senate today by SenatorWalsh which called upon the Secretary of the inte rior to taHe steps for the recovery of sections 16 and 36 in naval reserve NO 1 AVORSJOINT marketing by armers WASHINGTON eb Endorse ment of the cooperative marketing movement by and addresses on various affBifls oft the question marked the opening session here today of a three day of the National Council of armers Cooperative association! President Coolidge in his message to the con 3 41 AM A wm am 0 1411 In 1 1 trt UOSdJ wO He advocated agreement as secret and acknowleag oeiweeii i iim hull aii vv ubvu va producer and consumer groups as an loyalty Mr George demed that toward which the larger co he gave the interview to Harold bpen operatic? movement of the cohntry der the writer of the article in ques phoujdiflf 3 Kt MEt iSHH 3A V' MW 1 i 1 A 4r i i I 771' i AUblla Al i "A i Li I BE! A 'V a 4 I Bl i III i I gjS lai A I Bl AjAa III i I gjS Kt JOMKt aSHH.