Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-05-25
ELECTRICITY VS.. HANGING.

Three Men Convicted or Murder IKE
press Preference for the Former
Mode OF Execution.
The New York Stt,s says there are
two men in the Tombs convicted Of
murder-Daniel Lyons, who killed the
athlete Quinn. and Adolph Reich. who
has been found guilty Of the murder
of his wife In Brooklyn !ai1 there is
John Greenwald. whose life IS demand
ed for shooting Lyman S. Weeks
These men have talked freely in an
sWsr to the question. How would you
prefer to die BY hanging or by cleo
tricity?" Each one says that If he
really must surrender his life he would
choose electricity.
Danny Lyons paled just a little st
this direct query. That's a straight
question. sure. he said; ''but is 8 fair;
it all right to ask that for suppose
I am one of the few, the very few, un-
fortunate devils in this place or any
where around here who IS best able to
answer such a question. Well I'm for
electricity. That seems to me to be
the safest for the sheriff and the least
cruel to the prisoner. You might say
what difference does it make a man
how he dies. as long as he has got to
die somehow at some set time Well,
tell YOU. it does make a heap of diff
ference. Half the fear would come
from the horrible ideas that are con-
nected with hanging and the chances
of some slip in the execution.
''But do You think that the knowl-
edge that death was to come BY cleo
tricity would take away much Of the
horror and responsiveness Of capital
pun sh mrul9'
OF course 1 do. A man sits down
in a chair the current is turned on.
That ends him. He's dead. But by
hanging he may not die for five min
utes. perhaps twenty. Then we are
! accustomed to sitting down In chairs,
so that there is nothing ugly in doing
that even though man may know it is
a patent chair with a wire fastened to
it But the idea of walking up a gal
lows and having to stand on drop,
and of waiting for the hangman to
fasten the moose and all the ether busi-
ness. is horrible, and enough to make
fellow shudder."
Lyons said he would object however.
/ to the provisions of the bill that con-
demned prisoner shall not know tbs
exact date or hour when the sentence
/ is to be executed.
The Hungarian Adolph Reich, who
has been convicted of killing his wife,
| said he had seen five men hanged for
murder and two men shot as spies in
| the revolution of '48. He knows what
death by the guillotine is like, and his
| preference, he SAID. would be the cleo
trical mode. The guillOtine he thought
/ too bloody; hanging was barbarOus and
not sure and safe. while shooting was
| associated too much with the idea Of
war.
John Greenwald the Brooklyn burg
lar found guilty of shooting Lyman S.
/ Week. said he had pOndered on the sub
/ iect a great deal and had concluded
that electricity was the best way, and
] that it ought to be adopted. He has
/ talked with men who has tried to hang
/ themselves and they have told him that
their experiences were frightfuly hor-
rible He believes in electricity be-
cause it is sudden and painless. The
victim. he says. is killed without tor
ture. except that mental torture VIII CHI
must be the lot of anyone sufficiently
unlucky to get his life in danger
/ Greenwald declares that neither method
will be tried on him because he is going
to have a new trial. and he is sure he
won't be convicted again. If he were
really to die by command of the law,
he saws he would not care to know the
dav or the hour of the execution Of the
sentence.