Aftermath of the Crime

A Poem by Evyn Rubin

About the murder of Tom Quong Kee, and the subsequent execution of Gee Jon -- protesting both.

Assassin Gee Jon

and local guide Huey Sing

were soon arrested

Why did Hop Sing Tong

want the death of Tom Quong Kee?

this I do not know

Nineteen twenty-one

Tom Quong Kee was shot and killed

for reasons unknown

Nineteen twenty-four

Gee Jon put to death by gas

to pay for this crime

Gee Jon's death by gas

the first use of lethal gas

for execution

February eighth

Carson City Nevada

Nineteen twenty-four

Oy what a mistake

a bad precedent was set

for gas to expand

******** Postscripts *******

This is the third fragment of this story that I have told in Haiku format. I also have a fourth incomplete fragment, a prose piece, and a collage of local headlines.

Next year, February 8, 2024, will be the centennial anniversary of the first execution using lethal gas. I imagine this will be an educational opportunity.

I'd like to add here an explicit note about one of the lessons: Executions are not exterminations, but the same gas was used in both. Called hydrogen cyanide in the U.S., soon used by the Nazis in massive gas chambers in Europe, known by the trade name Zyklon B.