From the time the subject is started from his cell until he reaches the scaffold, steps on the trap, is bound, strapped, the noose adjusted, the black cap placed, the brief prayer said, and the subject dropped and dead, is less than sixty seconds. In every case there has not been the slightest hitch or error, and the subject has been subjected to no delay, so terribly hard to stand. Our people know exactly how to do this work and it is done quickly. But the electric chair is the very opposite. That is not all.
Electrocution is the most horrible death known.
To maintain an electric chair would involve a large expense, where as the present system involves no expense whatever. The voltage of the electric current of our dynamos is not sufficient to use for this purpose, at all. We would be forced to purchase a powerful transformer, at a great expense. The electric chairs are made by only one concern on earth, and cost a fabulous price. I regret very much to have to annoy you with the discussion of the details of a painful subject, but it seems necessary for you to know the facts in this matter.