The New York herald., 1879-12-14
. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
DIR. HAMMOND CONDEMNS ELECTRICITY AS AN
UNCERTAIN AGENT OF DEATH.

DIR. HAMMOND CONDEMNS ELECTRICITY AS AN
UNCERTAIN AGENT OF DEATH.
To THE EDITOR THE HERALD
With reference to the subject of the best means
OF inhicting capital punishment it appears to me
that one such that recorded in the following
history is sufficient to prevent the adoption of
electricity as the deathdealing agent. The spec
tacle of q criminal running about naked or lying
with his limbs broken after deputy sheriff
had performed on him with galvanic battery would
be even more dsgraceful than the scenes which
now sometimes occur at executions What the tre-
mendous power of nature cannot invariably do is
not likely to be always accomplished by the compar
atively ridiculous means for generating electricity
at the command OF man. Probably the most eff
fectual kind of electricity would be that known
statical. which ia identical with atmospheric light
ming; but the machines for generating 1t will not
work in wet weather. and II instrument could be
constructed powerful enough under favorable cir
cumstances to kill man. the execution would prob
ably have to be deferred from day to day till the
hygrometrc state Of the air suitable:--
CASE IN WHICH A MAN WAS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.
DR.. q. Wilks contributed this to tho Clinical
Society of London:-On June last four at
work in Romney Marsh were compelled by the vio-
lence of the rain to seek shelter. Three them
tired into lodge. the fourth H. Orman) remaining
under willow tree by the window OF the lodge to
pass urine. Almost instantaneously the building
was enveloped In a blaze OF lightning The three
occupants having recovered from their terror.
ran to seek their companion. They saw that the
tree had been struck, that Ormans boots lay the
foot Of the tree and HIS clothes scattered in limo
for several yards along the iold while he him.
self was stretched upon his back six feet away.
stark naked. calling to them for aid The man him
self said that he felt himself violently struck
the chest and shoulders hurled through the air and
dashed upon the ground, and sure that he never
lost consciousness. His clothes were all blown of
leather straps which fastened his trousers were rent
like finder and his new strong boots torn like paper.
while his watch and chain were partly fused. Upon
admission to the Ashford Cottage Hospital the man
was found to be burnt all over. more less. His
eyebrows and whiskers were gone; the burns the
back and chest were superficial, those the abdo.
men and pubes more deep; down each leg ran
broad threeinch ribbonlike scar terminating tho
left heel in q small roundish hole; ut the right in
large lacerated wound, through which the os calcs
might be felt fractured into several pieces There
was also a compound comminuted fracture of the
right tiba and ibula. which bones protruding
through the skin in the course Of the ribbon-like
burn: The deepest burns were about where the
buckles OF the waist belt and garters aud the watch
must have been. but from the knee to the heel on
the right leg the whole thickness of the skin in the
man deaf. but singularly placid and cheerful,
showing no signs Of shock, He made excellent
the sloughy OF heel were complications of some
moment), walking across the room ten weeks after
the accident He ] was now !octobsr earning his
quarters of an inch. The following facts
noted First. the course OF electrical action
very wet. their conductivity had been probably
heightened third whore the flannel next the
skin the burns were more superficial; fourth, where
the cotton shirt ana trousers touched him the burns
were uniformly deeper; fifth. wherever there had
been piece Of metal--e. g.. waist belt. jacket
buckles, watch, shoes-there had been explosion,
or at least development OF great heat; sixth. the
man was aware that he usually raised his right heel
from the ground during micturition, which might
have caused the ferce explosion on that side;
enth. the nervous system had almost complete
immunity from injury; this was attributed to the
wet clothes being good conductors-British Medical
Journal
There. ] think your readers will agree with me
that the possibility OF such an occurrence that
above described is not to be thought Of.
WILLIAM A. HAMMOND. NJ. D..
No. 4o West Fifty-fourth Street.
New YORK, Dec. 10, 1879.