As warden of the infamous San Quentin prison in the 1940s, Clinton Duffy presided over 90 state-ordered executions. 88 MEN AND 2 WOMEN – Duffy’s account of his 12-year tenure – is an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the incarceration and subsequent deaths of that era’s most notorious criminals.
Duffy’s predicament was that he didn’t agree with capital punishment. Despite this, his solemn nod to the executioner would cause the floor to drop out of the gallows. After the gallows were dismantled in favor of a more humane means of execution, his nod would prompt the unleashing of cyanide into a vat of distilled water and sulfuric acid within the gas chamber.
The book is Duffy’s attempt to garner support for his views regarding the death penalty. A second and unstated goal may have been to come to terms with the deaths that occurred on his watch. His arguments against the death penalty may have been considered fresh when the book was written more than 40 years ago, but today seem tired and old. Duffy has no better chance of changing anyone’s mind about capital punishment than the pro-lifers do about abortion. The rhetoric, thankfully, is brief and the book is surprisingly light despite its subject matter.
And amusingly dated. Published in 1963 about crimes that occurred in the ’30s and ’40s, one of the crimes it recounts is the murder of a woman by her husband who was trying to collect on her whopping $5,000 life insurance policy. During this period African-Americans were “Negroes” and Asian males were “Chinamen.” Negroes were regularly sentenced to death for raping white women and apparently all Asian men spoke only broken English. In my lifetime the only person I’ve ever heard use “Chinamen” and get away with it is Phil Hendrie when he’s playing the part of one of his alter egos.
The book is absent any overt mention of blood and gore. In fact, if an execution went as planned, there wasn’t much mess to worry about. The conscientious hangman would take great care and pride in his job. He would take precise measurements of a condemned man then select a rope to properly suit its purpose. This careful prep work was important because the head might be severed if the rope was too long and the neck might not be broken if it were too short. D’oh!
There is, of course, the requisite mentions of inmate-fashioned shanks and man-on-man love. Also of interest are the anecdotes regarding last meals. One Jewish fellow requested a kosher meal. When it was gone, he was asked if he’d like anything else. “Let me have a ham sandwich,” he said.
You’ll have three hurdles to overcome in order to enjoy this book. The hard part will be finding a copy, as it’s been out of print for a long time. I came across my copy on a fluke while browsing a used bookstore. Once you have a copy in hand, you’ll have an easy time overlooking the liberal overtones and dated references.
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Nov 15 2007 — I read Mr. Duffy’s book shortly after it came out in 1963. I was age 13 or 14. The book caused me to be a life-long opponent of capital punishment. I am trying to find a copy of the book so that I can re-read it. (In fact, I was searching the internet for a copy when I ran into Mr. Davis’ book review.) Mr. Davis states that Mr. Duffy’s ideas seem “tired and old” and the book “has no better chance of changing anyone’s mind about capital punishment than the pro-lifers do about abortion.” I doubt whether this is a true statement. However, since it has been more than 40 years since I read the book, I will need to re-read the book before I can comment on whether Mr. Duffy’s book still has the capacity to cause a person to oppose capital punishment. JEB
I too read Duffy’sany many years ago and it has caused me all my life to have a fascination with and more or less opposition to capital punishment. In these days of DNA proving in case after case that the wrong person has been executed it seems more wrong than ever and imprisonment for life seems a horrific punishment in it’s own right butione that can be at least partially reversed if found to have been wrongfully applied.
What unadulterated hubris Mr. Davis shows by holding out his current culture as superior to the culture of the past. His derision of how things were done shows the same amount of tolerance for others that he disdains in Mr. Duffy for using the word Nergo or Chinaman. He therefore invalidates all his opinions. Rube.
Bob, Thank you for an excellent comment RE: Mr. Davis. I too read the book in 1983 04 ’64. The book had a profound effect on me and I wrote an essay on the subject in 9th or 10 th grade. I have been strongly against capital punishment since then…..I’m 62. The fact that humans administer it means by definition that there WILL be a mistake. There is NO benefit to society other than revenge and THAT’S no benefit; only bloodlust.
P read the book in 1964.