The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1888-01-18
THE DEATH PENALTY.
a CHANGE RECOMMENDED
By the New York oommI,sIOu-sHODE ArEu.
mont for the Substitution of Electricity
for the Moose AS Means of E1scut-
ing Orimiuals-A Painless Death.

NEw YoRx, Jan. 1.-THE report Of the
Commission appointed by the Legislature
in 1885 to report the most humane and
practical method known 10 modern science
Of Carrying into effect tho ssntsnce ol
death In capital cases, was transmitted TO
the Legislature yesterday. 1t recommends
killing the culprits by electricity. The
Commissioners are Eldridge 7. Gesrry.
Alfred P. Sou!hwlck and Matthew Hale.
Tie substance Of the report Is az follows:
Your Commission have examined with
care the accounts which exist Of the va
rious curious modes Of capital punishment
which are or have been used among differ
ent communities with the result Of feeling
that the element Of bsrbarOus cruelty lie
60 prominent in each that no existing
mode can be considered as embodying
suggestions Of improvement Of that now
In use in this State.
The chief objections TO the guillotine by
the Commission are that II is too bloody,
and that it 10 associated with the scenes Of
tho French revolution. The garrote Ia
Objectionable because physicians say the
fatal screw cannot be depended upon to be
90 quick and certain in operation that
there may not be great agony on the part
OF the criminal. Shooting, II uSod in civil
life, would be bloody, and in character
and effects would some time lack celebrity;
would requirea
LARGE NuNBER OF RIEcGTIoNERs,
and would be demoralizing because Of its
tendency to encourage the untsught pop
ulAce to think lightly OF the fatal uae Of
fire arms. The first objection 10 hanging
Ia that the effect Of giving stimulants to
the condemned Immediately before the
execution is denoralizing. The prevail
encs OF the practice the commissioners
cay, Is well known in prison where pris-
oners are debarred from alcoholic drinks.
When the Anarchists we're hanged in
Chicago recently, at the suggestion OF the
Sheriff the County Physician went to the
condemned mens' cells and asked thom to
take stimulants. Engel drank two or three
times Of port vine, and Spies spEringly OF
Rhein wine. One reason assigned for
giving liquor to criminals Ia that 1t Ia a
mercy TO lessen his perception Of the pain
Of dying. Another is that he can thus
fortiiy himself with unnatural strength
for tho ordeal. These REASONS are obiec-
tionsble. AS to giving liquor to stupefy
the prisoner, II pain is part Of the pun
ishment then the criminal should
suffer It, II 1t Is not .es-
semitic, then let an anesthestic or q
narcotic be given. In either case the re-
sort 10 Slcohol as means Of SIMPLIFYING
the sufferer argues defect in the method
OF tho execution. Moreover II liquor
ought to be given to the condemned man
he becomes drunk and
DRUNKENNESS ITSELF Is AN oPFESsE.
In moral aspect the groes improperly
Of sending q msn into the presence Of his
Maker intoxicated ia too obvious to re-
quirs comment.
Another objection to hanging is the
danger OF an attempt by the condemned
man to commit suicide and OF some horri.
BILE sceue afterwards. II Lingg, tho Chi
cago ANARCHIST, had lived after he ex.
ploded bomb in his mouth, the specta-
been shocking. There are four cases on
record where men who had cut their
throsls Just before the time for their exc
cution arrived were hanged.
The Commission then states the OBJ
jeCtions to various other modes Of iDtlict-
ing the death penalty. In regard to the
use OF electricity 1t Gays: "Perhaps the
most potent sgent for destroying mans
life Is electricity; the application may be
made without injury 10 officials; the
place for It's uae may be strictly private,
and the certainty Is beyond doubt. One
objection to the use Of electricity 10 the
shock which people uninstructed in It's
use suppose 10 Inflicted on the condemned
man. AS a matter Of fact, an electric
shock cannot produce sensation which
can be perceptiole TO the criminal. The
velocity OF the current is 60 great that the
brain Is parAlyzed."
Thomas A. Edison writes that the dy-
namo-electric machinery which employs
intermittent currents would be the mo0t
suitable apparatus. The passage Of tho
current from these machines through the
body, even by the slightest contact,
CAUSES INSTANT DEATH.
The Commissioners describe number
Of experiments with electricity as a means
Of destroying animals witnessed in Buffalo
by one Of the Commissioners last year
with DR.. George Z. Fell, OF that city. For
the purpose of GsCertainipg the effect Of
the electric light current on the action Of
the heart, the thorax Of 0 chloroiormed
dog was opened so that the lungs and
heart could be seen in action, by forcing
respiration, as In conscious life. At the
instant when the current passed through
the heart II became mass Of culver.
ing hesh. The ordinary conditions Of
dying were absent. It was noticed
that an attempt to breathe was made
after the current was passed through the
dog. This indicated that the brain had
not lost Its susceptibility to impressions,
and shows that in execution the current
should be passed through the functions in
theb The hecommissioners recommends
that q chair with head and foot rest,
should be used, in which the condemned
man should be seated In half reclining
position. One wire could be connected
with the head rest and the other with the
foot rest, which would, be O metal plate.
The electric current could be supplied by
electric light wires. The commissioners
recommend that the date Of the sxeou'
tIon be made uncertain 60 that the crimi-
nal may not know what day no is to die (;
and the corpse 60 to the doctors or to q
namoless grave without religious rites,
and that the newspapers be forbidden to
describe the execution.
Il