Gee Jon
Murderer
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- Gender
- male
- Country
- USA
- Location
- Mina, Nevada, USA
- Date of birth
- 1894
- Age at first offence
- 27
- Characteristics
- —
- Victim profile
- Tom Quong Kee
- Method of murder
- Shooting
- Date(s) of murder
- August 27, 1921
- Years active
- 1921
- Date of arrest
- —
- Status
-
Executed
Executed by asphyxiation-gas in Nevada on February 8, 1924
Overview
Gee Jon was executed by asphyxiation-gas in Nevada on February 8, 1924. He was the subject of the first execution by lethal gas in the United States. He was executed at the Nevada State Prison.
Background
Gee Jon was born in China. He had spent most of his life in San Francisco’s Chinatown. He was a member of the Hop Sing Tong and was involved in tong warfare in the West.
The offence
Gee Jon was convicted for the murder of Tom Quong Kee in Mina, Nevada. The killing occurred in Mina, Nevada on August 27, 1921. The murder occurred during a period of many killings in 1921 associated with tong warfare in the West, and there were also murders throughout California.
Gee Jon was convicted as the trigger man. Hughie Sing was also convicted for the same killing.
Trial
Gee Jon and Hughie Sing were convicted for killing Tom Quong Kee in Mina, Nevada on August 27, 1921.
Hughie Sing received a death sentence commuted to life in prison because of his youth and because Gee Jon did the actual shooting.
Gee Jon was twenty-nine when he died.
Sentencing
Gee Jon was executed by asphyxiation-gas in Nevada.
Outcome
Gee Jon was executed by asphyxiation-gas in Nevada on February 8, 1924 at the Nevada State Prison.
Other details
Gee Jon’s execution used a gas chamber at the Nevada State Prison. A small airtight room was built and used for the first time ever on this date in 1924. A minute or two after sodium cyanide pellets hit sulphuric acid to release a toxic cloud of hydrogen cyanide gas, Gee Jon fell unconscious. He remained in the chamber shrouded in gas for half an hour to make sure. The apparatus later improved with the addition of a stethoscope to enable a doctor to declare death from outside the cell.
The Nevada legislature had authorized lethal gas as an alternative method to electrocution, inspired by a proposal attributed to Dr. Allen McLean Hamilton. The gas chamber’s use was described as having won a fair following in the American South and West, notably California. The method later declined with the onset of lethal injection in the 1990s.
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