The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-01-26
THE ELECTRIC CURRENT
Commended by Commission on Capital
Punishment.

ANCM VIM, OH - NA'S N~I~-
the commission appointed by the Legis...
lature in 1856 to report the most humaneI
and practical method known to moder2
science of carrying into effect the sentence
OF death in capital cases.. was transmitted
to the Legislature yesterday. 1t recon- !
mends killing the culprits by electricity.
The commissioners are Elbridge T..
Gerry, Alfred P. Southwick and Matthew
Hall. ~
"Your commission have examined
with care the accounts where exist of the
various curious modes of capital punish.
ment which are or have been used among
different communities, with the result of
feeling that the element Of barbarous
cruelty is so prominent in each that no
mode can be considered as embodyings
suggestions of improvement of that now
in use in this State. Any change, to-
deserve commendation, muet be to a sys-
tenn substantially new, and the careful;
reader of description of those punish
ments cannot, without prejudice, arriSoS
at different conclusion"
The chief objections to the guillotine
by the commission are that it is too.
bloody and that it is associated with the
scenes of the French revolution. The
garrote is Objectionable because physi:
clans say The fatal screw cannot be de,
pended upon TO be SO quick and certain
in operation that there may not be greats
agony on. the part of the criminal.
Shooting, if used in civil life, would be-
bloody in character and effects, would
sometimes lack celerity, would require a.
large number of executioners, and would
be demoralizing because of its tendency
to encourage the untaught populace to-
think lightly of the fatal use Of firearms
The first objection to hanging is that
the effect of giving sti,nulants to the
condemned Immediately before execution
is demoralizipg. The prevalence of the.
practice, the commissioners say, is well
known even in prisons where prisoners
are debarred from alcoholic drinks
When the Anarchists were hanged in
Chicago recently, at the suggestion of the
Sheriff, the county physician went to thes
condemned mems cells and asked them
to take stimulsnts. Engel drank two or {
three times of port wine and Spies spar.
ingly of Rbein vine. One reason
assigned for giving liquor to criminals is
that it is mercy to lessen his perception
of the pain Of dying. Another is that he
can thus fortify himself with unnatural
strength for the ordeal. These reasons
are Objectionable. AS to giving liquor
to stupefy the prisoner, if pain iaa part
of the punishment, then the criminal
should suffer it. If it is not essential,
then let an apnsthetic or narcotic be
given. In either case the resort to alco.s
hol as means of Supplying the sufferer,
argues defect in the method of execu-
tion. Moreover, if liquor enough is
given to the condemned man he becomes
drunk, and drunkenness itself is an
ofense. In moral aspect the gross i'm.
propriety O.; sending man into the
presence of his Maker intoxicated is too
obvious to require comment.
Another objection 10 hanging is the
danger of an attempt by the condemned
man to commit suicide, and of some hor-.
rible scene afterward., If Lingg, the
Chicago Anarchist, had lived after he
had exploded bomb in his mouth, the
spectacle of his face at the hanging
would have been shocking. There are
four cases on record where men who had
cut their throats just before the time for
their execution arrived were hanged.
The commission then states the objec-
tions to various other modes of infictiDg
the death penalty. In regard TO the use
of electricity, il says:
"Perbaps ..the most potent agent for
destroying human life is, electricity.
Death is instantaneous The application
may be made without injury to officials,
the place for its use may be strictly ri.
vate, and its certainty is beyond doubt.
."One objection to the use of electricity
is the shock which people uninstructed
in its use suppose is inflicted on the con-
demned man. As. a matter of fact, an
electric shock cannot produce sensation
which can be perceptible to the criminal.
The velocity of the current is so great
that the brain is paralyzed."
Thomas A. Edison writes that dynamo.
electric machinery which employs inter.
mittent currents would be the most suita.
BILE apparatus. Tho passage of the cur
rent from these machines through the
body. even by the slightest contact,
causes instant death.
The commissioners describe number
of experiments with electricity as q
means of destroying animals, witnessed
in Buffalo by one of the commissioners
last year, with DR.. George E. Felloftbat
city. For the purpose of asceriaining
the effect Of the electric light current on
the action of the heart, the thorax Of q
chEoroformed dog was opened SO that the
lungs ard heart could be seen in action,
by forcing respiration, as in conscious
life. At. the instant when the current
passed through the heart it became a
mass of quiveriug flesh. The ordinary
conditions dying were absent. 1t 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 execu-
tion the current should be passed
through the centre of functions in the
brain.