Rats, Lice and History, 131
Rawlins, Wyoming, 116, 146–47
Reader’s Digest, 121
Reagan, Ronald, 195, 202–4
“Red Light Bandit,” 186
“Red Lipstick Murderer,” 186
Red Scare, 67–68, 73, 122
“Reflections on the Guillotine,” 192
Rehnquist, Chief Justice William, 215
Reichstag, 132
Reid, Carolyn L., 217
Rembo, Dr. W.W., 123
Remington Arms, 66
Reno, Nevada, 69, 71, 79, 83, 99
Rentoul, Robert, 26
Republican National Committee, 30, 129
Republicans, 1, 30, 54, 55, 63, 64, 65, 70, 101, 108, 117, 138, 188, 194, 198, 201, 203
resistance, 17–18, 181
Respondek, Erwin (“Ralph”), 169
“reverence for life,” 15
Rhode Island, 3, 184, 206, 212
Richardson, Sir Benjamin Ward, 25
Richetti Adam, 123–24
Rickey, Branch, 49
Riley, Leandress, 181
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 188
Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, The, 156, 192
Ritter, Dr. Robert, 132
Roberts, Chief Justice John Jr., 13
Robinson, William J., 32
Rockefeller, John D., 66, 128
Rockefeller, Nelson A., 170
Rockefeller, Percy A., 66
Rockefeller Center, 129
Rockefeller Foundation, 43, 125, 130
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, 132
Rockefellers, 125, 127, 128
Rockwell, George Lincoln, 195
Roessler, Franz, 60
Roessler, Hector, 60
Roessler & Hasslacher, 6, 8, 10, 60–62, 64–66, 92, 95, 97, 98, 137
Rolph, Gov. James, 117–18
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 105–6, 170
Roosevelt, Franklin D., Jr., 169
Roosevelt, President Franklin D., 97, 105, 127, 129, 130, 135, 138, 141, 159, 164, 169, 170
Rosenberg, Julius, 177, 180, 187
Rosenberg, Ethel, 177, 180, 187
Royal Commission on Capital Punishment, 175
Ruiz, Alejandro Gilbert, 217
Rumania, 158
Rusche, Georg, 13, 14, 18, 19
Russell, Thomas, 72, 75, 78, 79
Russia, 6, 85, 144, 156, 170
Sacco and Vanzetti, 133, 184, 187
Sacramento, California, 121, 122, 188
Salem, Oregon, 122
Salida, Colorado, 116
Salt Lake City, 6
Sanderson, Ricky, 225–26
San Diego, California, 217
Sanford, J. T., 112–13
San Francisco, California, 70, 79, 85, 141, 217, 220, 223
San Francisco Bay area, 190
San Francisco Chronicle, 121
San Francisco Examiner, 121
San Francisco Quarantine Station, 93
Sanger, Margaret, 32
San Jose, California, 118–19
San Jose Mercury Herald, 84
San Quentin Prison, 118–21, 146, 147, 163, 177, 182, 184–90, 193, 195–96, 216–17, 219–21
Santa Fe Bridge, 92
Santo Domingo, 9
Sarat, Austin, 17
Saxony, Germany, 152
Scales, Deressa Jean, 210
Scales, Richard A., Jr., 210
Schaller, Father Albert, 115
Scheele, Carl Wilhelm, 24
Schering AG, 165
Schlesinger, Paul (“Sling”), 86
Schnurman, Nathan, 148
Schröder, Chancellor Gerhard, 229
Schwarzschild, Henry, 206–7
Schweitzer, Albert, 15, 19
“scientific racism,” 4
Scott, Sen. Nathan Bay, 46
Scottsboro Boys, 143
Scrugham, Gov. James G. (Gasoline Jimmy”), 71–72, 79, 84–85
Sears, Fred F., 187
Selassie, Emperor Haile, 136
Seventh-day Adventists, 148
Shahan, Thomas, 43
Shaughnessy, George, 107
Shaw, George Bernard, 26
Sheehan, Officer, 80
Shirer, William L., 156, 192
“Shoah,” 192
Sibert, Gen. William L., 44, 48
Sing, Hughie, 70, 75
Sing Sing Prison, 33, 74, 113, 184
Sisler, George, 48
Six-Day War, 193
Skeeter, Margaret, 99
slaves, 9, 140
Smith, Al, 97
Smith, Warden Court, 118, 121
Smoak, Edgar, 114
Smoot, Sen. Reed, 64
Smykla, John Ortiz, 3
Sobibór death camp, 152
“social Darwinism,” 4
social laboratory, 16
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 29, 31
sodium chlorate, 93
sodium cyanide, 57, 60, 61, 62, 93, 96, 97, 98
Solotaroff, Ivan, 210
Sonnenstein concentration camp, 152
Sonoma State University, 219
South Africa, 89
South Carolina, 188
Southern Prisoners’ Defense Committee, 213
Soviet Russia, 6, 85–86, 152
Soviet Union, 176
Spain, 6, 139, 190
Spencer, Herbert, 4
Spenkelink, John, 207
“spider-web chart,” 68
Spinelli, Mrs. Ethel Leta Juanita, 146
Sprague, Gov. Charles A., 123
Sri Lanka, 229
SS, 10, 149–55, 164, 167, 190–91
Stalin, Joseph, 164
Stamford, Connecticut, 47
Stanley, Dr. L. L., 121
stannic chloride, 47
Stark, Hans, 155
State v. Mata, 12
Steiner, John M., 182
sterilization, 31, 89, 114, 122, 135–36, 145
Stevens, Justice John Paul, 217, 229
Stiff, Gary, 199
Stimson, Harry L., 138, 164
stink bombs, 36
Stockholm, Sweden, 190
Stoddard, Lothrop, 32
Stokes Mortar, 40
Streeter, Harold V., 189
Stuttgart, Germany, 149–50, 151
suicide, 181, 196
sulfur chloride, 47
sulfur dioxide, 9, 29
sulfuric acid, 47, 91, 93, 96, 99, 106, 111, 112, 117, 189, 199
Sullivan, John, 145–46
Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles, 213
Supreme War Council, 51
“survival of the fittest,” 4
Sutherland, Edwin H., 141–42
Sweden, 175
Switzerland, 175
Sykes, Gresham, 17
syphilis, 57, 58, 92
Taft, Associate Justice William Howard, 71
Tallahatchie River, 179
tariffs, 64–65, 67, 68
Taylor, Dr., 76
Taylor, Telford, 171
tear gas, 58
Teeters, Negley K., 178
Temple, Sgt. George, 46
terrorism, 18
Tesch, Dr. Bruno, 166, 167, 212
Tesch und Stabenow (Testa), 154, 166, 167
Texas, 205, 214, 216
Texas Department of Corrections, 205
Thermodynamik technischer Gasreaktionen, 37
“third degree,” 133, 142
Third International Congress on Eugenics, 135
Third Reich, 2
Thucydides, 36
Thurmond, Sen. Strom, 188
Till, Emmett, 178
Time magazine, 204
Tong wars, 69–70, 84
Tonopah, Nevada, 61, 64, 69
torture, 16, 111, 121
Traystman, Dr. Richard, 209
Treaty of Versailles, 53
Treblinka death camp, 152, 161
Trenton, New Jersey, 138
; Trevor-Roper, H.R., 191
Trop v. Dulles, 199
Trotsky, Leon, 85–86
Truman, Pres. Harry S., 164, 170
tuberculosis, 51, 57, 58
Turner, Major Delos A., 79, 82–83
Tuskegee syphilis study, 92
twentieth century, 5, 9, 12, 18, 19, 23, 25
typhus, 131–32, 152
Ulster County (N.Y.), 26
unfit, 4, 9, 14, 26, 30, 31, 32
United Artists, 182–83
United Nations, 163
Union Pacific Railroad, 116
United Press International, 211
Union Station Massacre, 123
University of California at Berkeley, 44, 219, 220
University of Chicago, 43
University of Heidelberg, 30, 135
University of Iowa, 215
University of Michigan, 43
University of Pennsylvania, 201
University of Wisconsin, 57
Untergang der grossen Rasse: Die Rassen als Grundlage der Geschichte Europas, Der, 88
“unworthy of life,” 9
Uraguay, 190
Uris, Leon, 192
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 43
U.S. Army Medical Reserve Corps, 79
U.S. Bureau of Mines, 43, 55
U.S. Chemical Warfare Service, 1, 39, 44, 46, 48–49, 53, 54, 56, 57, 66, 68, 75, 78, 79, 134
U.S. Congress, 53, 55
U.S. Department of Agriculture, 46, 57
U.S. Department of Defense, 58
U.S. Department of the Interior, 55
U.S. Department of Justice, 68, 137–38
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, 208–9
U.S. District Court of Maryland, 224
U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, 12, 71
U.S. Patent Office, 92, 95, 120, 131
U.S. Public Health Service, 7, 55, 76, 91, 92, 93–95, 109, 135–36, 153
U.S. Senate, 64, 65, 68
U.S. Senate Committee on Military Affairs, 54
U.S. State Department, 169, 188, 229
U.S. Supreme Court, 6, 12, 13, 71, 143, 145, 164, 195, 199–205, 208–9, 212, 214–16, 223, 225, 227–30
U.S. Surgeon General, 55, 76, 91, 92
U.S. Tariff Commission, 65
U.S. Treasury Department, 55
U.S. War Department, 42, 43, 44, 57, 67, 68, 78, 85, 138, 159, 169
Utah, 64, 205, 216
utopian thought, 4, 5
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, 169
Varner, Rep. John W., 212
Vasquez, Warden Daniel B., 216–17, 220
Vatican, 188
vermin, 15
Verne, Jules, 103
Verrall, Richard, 221
Versailles Treaty, 88, 138
vesicant gas, 39
Veterans of Foreign Wars, 68
Vichy regime, 133
Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 229
Vietnam War, 206
Virginia, 6, 55
Virginia City, Nevada, 63
Vollmer, Chief August, 122
Von Boetticher, Gen. Friedrich, 119
Von Gelen, Count Clemens August, 151
Von Hindenburg, Paul, 134
Von Papen, Franz, 127
Von Rintelen, Franz, 127
Von Senftenberg, Veit Wulff, 36
Vossiche Zeitung, 86
Walker, Col. William H., 47, 50, 126
Walker, E.B., 78
Wall Street, 126, 138
Walsh, Judge J. Emmett, 70
Warburg, Paul M., 127, 128
war criminals, 10–11, 93, 125, 164–68, 170–71, 190–92, 212–13
warning agent, 93, 95, 96
War Refugee Board, 159
Warren, Earl, 201
Warren Commission, 125
Warren Court, 200
Washington, D.C., 44, 62, 119, 159
Washington Arms Conference, 55, 67
Washington state, 66, 67
Watergate, 207
Watson, Thomas, 112–13
Wave of the Future, 133
Weber, Max, 28, 140
Weeramantry, Judge Christopher, 229
Weimar, Germany, 161
Weimar Republic, 86, 88, 134
Weinbacher, Karl, 167, 212
Wellman, William, 144–45
Wells, Alfred, 120
Wells, H. G., 25
Wenke, Judge Robert A., 213
West, Rebecca, 165
Western Reserve University, 43
West Germany, 170
Westinghouse, 170
Westinghouse, George, 13
West Point, 43–44, 122
West Virginia, 46
Wetzel, William Alvin, 180
We Who Are About to Die, 186
Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, 130
White, Bob, 98–100
White, Jay Henry, 70
White, Justice Byron “Whizzer,” 202
White Cross, 41
Whittier, John Greenleaf, 185
Wickersham Commission, 142
Wide World Photos, 118
Widmann, Dr. Albert, 150
Wiesel, Elie, 161
Wilder, Billy, 163
Wiley, Dr. Harvey W., 32
Williams, Thomas Clyde, 179
Willkie, Wendell, 138
Willoughby, Ohio, 48, 50
Wilson, President Woodrow, 43, 44, 55
Wilson, Warden Lawrence, 196
Wirth, Christian, 149–50, 155–56
Wisconsin, 184
Wise, Rabbi Stephen, 134
Wise, Robert, 182–83
witnesses to execution, 80–81, 91, 99, 102, 109–10, 115, 189–90, 208, 211, 216, 218, 220
Woker, Gertrude, 41–42
Wolfgang, Marvin E., 201
women, 146, 180–81, 182–83
Women’s Christian Temperance Union, 67
Women’s Peace Union, 84
Woods, Attorney General Grant, 216
Woods, Sam E., 169
World Bank, 170
World Court, 12, 229
World Population Congress, 135
World War I, 1, 14, 34–52, 57–58, 59, 61, 85, 138, 151
World War II, 2, 58, 93, 97, 138, 149–71, 175, 176, 178, 185, 195, 206
Wright, William, 117
Wróblewski, Jerzy, 153
Wyoming, 3, 114, 116–17, 119, 122, 146–47, 206, 212
Wyoming State Tribune, 114
Yale University, 43
Yalta, 164
“yellow peril,” 67, 69, 269n3
Yellowstone National Park, 44
Yom Kippur War, 204
Ypres, 34, 36, 37
Zigeunermischlinge, 132
Zinsser, Dr. Hans, 131
Zinsser, Ellen, 126, 127
Zinsser, Emma Sharmann, 126–27
Zinsser, Frederick G., 126
Zinsser, Gussy, 170
Zinsser, Margaret (“Peggy”), 126, 127, 129
Zinsser & Company, 126
Zündel, Ernst, 213, 221–22
Zurich, Switzerland, 169
Zyklon-B, 7, 8, 10, 91–96, 98, 120, 130, 131, 152–56, 162–66, 165–68, 176, 212–13
OTHER BOOKS BY SCOTT CHRISTIANSON
With Liberty for Some: 500 Years of Imprisonment in America
Condemned: Inside the Sing Sing Death House
Innocent: Inside Wrongful Conviction Cases
Notorious Prisons: Inside the World’s Most Feared Institutions
Bodies of Evidence: Forensics and Crime
Great Escapes: The Stories Behind 50 Remarkable Journeys to Freedom
Freeing Charles: The Struggle to Free a Slave on the Eve of the Civil War
Review
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review.
Investigative journalist Christianson, author of the award-winning With Liberty for Some, charts the 75-year history of gas chamber execution as well as its intersection with eugenics, the H
olocaust, and America’s ongoing capital punishment debate. Christianson is clear that his focus is the United States, underscoring that the chamber’s operation can hardly be described as painless or kind. After the Germans launched the first gas attack during WWI, American scientists and chemical companies—particularly DuPont, which had ties to the German manufacturers that later supplied concentration camps—scrambled to produce their own lethal concoctions. From their earliest incarnations, gas chambers employed various forms of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) pumped into a sealed room where the condemned was strapped to a chair. Despite being developed as a swifter and more painless alternative to death than hanging or electrocution, Christianson describes in graphic detail the numerous botched executions during which death took over 10 agonizing minutes. Though the gas chamber hasn’t been used in America since 1999, Christianson makes a chilling argument for its—and the death penalty’s—abolition. 8 b&w photos.
(July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
“Christianson makes a chilling argument for its [the gas chamber’s]—and the death penalty’s—abolition.”
STARRED REVIEW—Publishers Weekly
“This sobering work is recommended to all readers interested in exploring the topic.”
—Library Journal
“First full-scale history of gas chamber connects murky (and sure-to-be controversial) dots, including Hitler’s adoption of American technology and joint American-German research and development.”
—American History
“Christianson has written the definitive (actually, the only) history of the gas chamber. It is a history so complicated and convoluted that it reads almost like something out of Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow.”
—California Lawyer
Copyright
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2010 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Christianson, Scott.
The last gasp : the rise and fall of the American gas chamber / Scott Christianson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-520-25562-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
The Last Gasp Page 41