The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-09-17
A DEAD MANS HEART BEATS
INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS WITH THD
BODY or A MURDERER;
Startling Ekects Produced by the Appiicatioa
or Eicetricity-The Feasibility OF Conn lets
Resuscltatlon II TIE Neck IL Not Brok eA.

Startling Ekects Produced by the Applicatioa
or Eicctricity-The Possibility OF Complets
Reconciliation n the Neck IL Not Broken.
CHICAGO, Sept. 1G.-Yesterday afternoon.
within one minute after the body OF James
Tracy. the murderer OF Policeman Huebner.
had been taken from the galows. Drs. Mann
and Bluthardt. In the presence Of other physi.
clans. began tho interesting experiment Of ap-
plying electricity with view to resusoitation.
The features were not distorted. and the dead
man looked as peaceful as though he had
passed away in sleep. Dr. Bluthardt said:
He died painessly. He lost consciousness
within a moment after tho drop fell. He was
dead before he know what hurt him. The
neck was dislocated at the first vertebrB,
wish you would let me make post-mortem."
no added turning to James McCann. to whom
Tracy had wed his body.
NO" said the old Irlshman. looking MOURN
fully at the corpse. He will DO buried In
Calvary just as he isl
Mccain Is the man who swore positively at
the trial that Tracy was attending a wake at
his house on the, night of the murder. II any
,"Now that It i all over, said a reporter to
noIt Am p0 III 81 the rSRy; and
was iony 20 d enf Sith ne added Iha' man
Then the doctors applied the electricity, and
II wh' intensely interesting to see the muscles
OF the Nd face twitch. the mouth pout the
eyes open A. I'd shut. and the breast heave. The
countenance o. DR.. Danforthl IT up. suddenly
IS he bent OYER IT, Ss hs he f Sa6
dTP in tn and Se aSo hscrd the
statement that they wrote Mt the request OF the
representative OF THE SUN:
The experiment was begun by applying Ono
pole over the spinal cord and the other over
the heart-.the latter by means Of three needles.
one over the apex and two over the base Of the
skin. so as to bring the. electric current in di-
rect communication with the heart. On turn.
ing on the current the effect was very marked.
Muscular contortions began wherever the
electric current reached. but especially in the
face and neck. The heart began to contract
feeblv. not regularly. With the ear over the
heart we could distinctly hear. or rather feel
electrode we couldsproducc variety OF facial
expressions. The arms would contract. the
legs move with considerable force and the
muscles of the abdomen contract strongly.
The most significant fact. however was the
rhythmic action Of the heart. notwithstanding
q considerable proportion Of criminals who are
hanged in this country are either mechanically
strangled-that Is. choked to death or killed
by shock-that Is. death Is the result Of tho
terrible impression made upon the nervous
system. In cases where the neck is not broken
and the spinal cord is not laceruted. we are OF
opinion that resuscitation would not be inn
possible. 1t might be accomplished by cleo
tricity. friction. artificial respiration the hot
bath. and other well-known means Of restora-
ton. In this present case resu5citation was
impossible. rs the neck was broken"