During his sentencing, Mircovich was informed of a Nevada statute passed the year before which allowed the condemned to choose execution by either hanging or firing squad. This statute had been passed at the behest of the State’s Mormon community, whose doctrine of Blood Atonement held that eternal sins like murder could only be atoned for by spilling the sinner’s blood on the ground.......
But there was a problem: execution by firing squad requires at least three executioners, and despite weeks of searching, George W. Cowing, warden of the Nevada State Prison in Carson City, was unable to find three volunteer marksmen willing to shoot Andriza Mircovich. With the set execution date of August 29 fast approaching, Cowing desperately tried to dissuade Mircovich and convince him to accept hanging instead. But Mircovich refused to back down, and Cowing, having run out of options, instead ordered the construction of a mechanical firing squad – or shooting machine.
Cowing’s machine took the form of a 1000-pound steel frame to which were mounted three Savage Model 1899 lever-action rifles fitted with Maxim suppressors. This frame was encased in metal sheeting to form an execution chamber which prevented witnesses from seeing the executioners and the executioners from seeing the condemned. The rifles were operated by spring mechanisms triggered by the cutting of three strings. Prior to the execution, one rifle was to be loaded with a blank cartridge; three prison guards, randomly selected by drawing lots, would then simultaneously cut the strings so that, as in a regular execution by firing squad, none of the three would know who fired the fatal shot.