[Nouvelles de Chrétienté]Livre Rare Book
1938 Press Photo of San Quentin’s Gas Chamber Following the First Two Executions Using It
1938List2978San Quentin California 1938. Single 6 ½ x 8 ½ inch photograph caption affixed verso and marked verso “CALIF - STATE - PRISON SAN QUENTIN CALIFâ€. Folded at middle marginal wrinkling and small tears; fine contrast very good to excellent. A press photograph looking into the gas chamber at San Quentin Prison taken following the execution of Albert Kessel 1909–1938 and Robert Lee Cannon 1908–1938. The pair were the first to be executed at San Quentin using that method; they were two of five men executed for their role in an attempted escape from Folsom Prison that caused the death of warden Clarence Larkin and a guard. The photo’s caption reads in part:<br /> <br /> “Into these two black chairs Albert Kessel and Robert Lee Cannon were strapped today in the state’s first execution with use of lethal gas. A few seconds later the door was shut and made airtight; witnesses lined around the window and then the deadly cyanide eggs released.â€<br /> <br /> In 1994 the use of cyanide gas was ruled cruel and unusual and banned in California to be replaced by lethal injection; in 2006 a court order halted capital punishment in the state altogether though it is still legal. unknown
Auger Down Books · États-Unis175,00 $US≈ 148,07 €
