Gee Jon
| Gee Jon | |
|---|---|
Nevada State Prison mug shot
|
|
| Born |
c. 1895 China |
| Died |
(aged 29) Carson City, Nevada, United States |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Criminal penalty | Death by lethal gas |
| Criminal status | Executed at Nevada State Prison on February 8, 1924 |
| Conviction(s) | Murder – 1921 |
Gee Jon (c. 1895 – February 8, 1924) was a Chinese national who was the first person in the United States to be executed by lethal gas. A member of the Hip Sing Tong criminal society from San Francisco, California, Gee was sentenced to death for the murder of an elderly member from another gang in Nevada. An unsuccessful attempt to pump poison gas directly into his cell at Nevada State Prison led to the development of the gas chamber.
Gee Jon was born of Cantonese descent in China around 1895. He immigrated to the United States between 1907 and 1908 and spent most of his life at San Francisco's Chinatown in California. Gee became a member of the Hip Sing Tong society, which dealt in narcotics and liquor. In 1922, territorial disputes with the rival Bing Kong Tong society led to the outbreak of hostilities.
Tom Quong Kee was a 74-year-old laundry proprietor who was a member of the Bing Kong Tong in Mina, Nevada. Hughie Sing, his American-educated apprentice of two years, pointed Kee out as a target for Gee. During the night of August 27, 1921, Gee knocked on the door of Kee's residence while armed with a Colt .38 revolver. Gee fatally shot Kee, who answered the door in his pajamas. Unlike many other Tong killings, Gee and Sing were apprehended.
Gee and Sing were defended by attorneys James M. Frame and Fiore Raffetto. Gee and Sing were both convicted and sentenced to death in the District Court of Mineral County, Nevada. Sing's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment because he was only nineteen years old and Gee had committed the shooting itself. A bill authorizing the use of lethal gas had passed the Nevada State Legislature in 1921, making Gee eligible to become the first person to be executed by this method. Frame argued that Gee's sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment, but his appeal was denied. The Supreme Court of Nevada instead complimented the state legislators for "inflicting the death penalty in the most humane manner known to modern science." Raffetto unsuccessfully filed a writ of certiorari with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Gee was incarcerated in Nevada State Prison at Carson City.
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