State Library and Archives - A Division of the Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs

Gee Jon was the first person in the United States to be executed by lethal gas. He was executed at the Nevada State Prison on February 8, 1924 for the crime of murder. Gee, along with Hughie Sing were convicted for killing Tom Quong Kee in Mina, Nevada on August 27, 1921. The murder was one of many in 1921 because of tong warfare in the West. There were also murders throughout California. Gee Jon was convicted of being the trigger man and Hughie Sing, because of his youth and the fact that Gee did the actual shooting, had his death sentence commuted to life in prison. Gee Jon was twenty-nine when he died. He was born in China, but had spent most of his life in San Francisco's Chinatown. He was a member of the Hop Sing Tong.

For more information see "Example for the Nation : Nevada's Execution of Gee Jon" by Loren Chan, (Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, Volume 18, No.2, pgs 90-106, Summer 1975.)