The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-04-11
ELECTRICITY OR THE ROPE?
DR.. HAMMOND PREFERS HANGING.
New York Physicians on the Best Method
of Inflicting Capital Punishment
The Question Debated I'm the
Legislature at Albany.

nuIndne agent lndll tue TOpe III tue lhliIC-
ton OF capital punishment, to which TIE
SUNDAY SENTINEL has devoted considera-
BILE space, continues to attract attention
all over the country. In the New York
legislature the bill substituting electricity
for the gallows, which was proposed by
the commission of which Elbridge 7.
Gerry was chairman, is still pending. A
recent debate on the measure IN the as
sembly is thus described in an Albany
telegram to the New York Press:
In the assembly chamber tonight there was
strange and memorable controversy. The various
shades of religious opinion we're shed upon it, and IL
took varying thickness of intelligence various
minds grasped fell short of the subject. The as
Sembly considering special ortler, the biil
which WILL if passed, substitute electricity for the
gaiOWs the means OF inhicting capital punish
ment
Young hut gray-haired Mr. Saxton, as chairman
of the judiciary committee, had reported the bill,
and Tonight he stood upon the door a. the champion
OF advance step in civilization. By his side sat
Ebridge 7. Gerry who is at the head OF the commits
sion that for two years has been studying all methods
OF capital punishment, and which had at last pre-
pared the bill which commanded the closest atten-
ton of members and spectators.
Judge Green OF Orange could not indorse the pro-
vision that surrendered the Uurdcrers body 10
hospital or a college for dissection. lie moved 10
strike out that provision, and Mr. Saxton accepted
the amendment. Then arose feShy Mr.. LOnglcy OF
Kings county, with skull cap OF his head and
premature tears OF sympathy with his own words
wettng his lower eyelids- 81 move to amend" ne
said, that friends or relatives may reclaim the
body OF the executed man."
zone word" put in Mr. Saxton "when man
by his crime foTeits his life to the state the state
has the undOub;ed right To dispose of the muir
deTer's corpse public policy may direct. What
comfort can be afforded those VINO had loved the
criminal by viewing the remains which IN life had
failed OF self respect and which in death bears the
stamp OF the states righteous dissertation"
Gin Chicago the bodies OF executed criminals were
% a
that city brought very close to insurreci ion
and revolution. Public policy would have been
better served had the provisions OF this bin been
operative there"
Mr. Lonsley then in pathetic tones and tearfHl in-
donations described the tender scenes OF fathers,
mothers and sisters the forms OF their dead in
peace, and especially when the going
Mr. Saxton, who was a union soldier, with his face
as white as his hair, arose. and with quverng voice,
asked: docs the gentleman mean 10 compare the
sacred of the dead soldier with the passion of
regret over the corpse OF an executed murderer
AR LOngley said he did not, but urged that the
sentiment Of human love and tenderness was in
VOWED in each case.
where relatives claimed the remains the state had
bodies and, BESIDES the bill took away the right OF
burial in cOnsecrated ground
"COnSecrated grOund?' exclaimed Saxton. "Is
the plea here made that hardship follows retention
of criminal corpse from cunSecFated ground? The
criminal who in life would not respect the flesh pro-
tected by the law he broke, may not in death have
demanded for it that which himself had forfeited"
Christ stamped with the laws dissertation, and was
it not afforded decent burial?"
Saxton was moment silent, and then, in rcverent
tone, replied: 81 will not stand here TO answer
question, based upon the coupling oil the Holy
Savior's memory With that OF men executed by the
state Of New York Tor murder" hush followed,
and Mr.. Roesch subsidized.
The bill progressed after Mr.. saxton had accepted
amendments providing the bodies OF executed muir
derers may be claimed by relatives, that religious
services may be privately had in the prison and that
dissection by colleges shall not be had.
DR.. William A. Hammond, ex-surgeon
general of the army, is in favor of hang
ing, and so are many eminent physicians
in New York. At a recent meeting of the
society OF medical Jurisprudence and state
medicine in that city, DR.. Hammond read
paper on the Superiority of Hanging as
a Method OF Execution"
DIR. Hammond began with history of
the methods of execution from the ear
Hest times, showing that the ancient Jews
tied a rope around the criminals neck,
which was pulled at by strong men until
strangulation resulted; the Turks, Per-
SLAMS and Egyptians used the bowstring,
while the Spaniards formerly strangled
their criminals with rope, but later sub
stituted steel band armed with sharp
point that pierced the medulla oblongata
In England the criminal was pushed off a
ladder or placed in wagon, which was
moved from under him after the rope had
been adjusted.
All these methods were designed simply
for strangulation, and the effort to bring
about dislocation of the neck, method
largely practiced in this country. was of
modern origin. 1t was a mistake that the
dislocation of the neck lessend the agony.
death is produced just as certainly"
continued the doctor, "by hanging with
out breaking the neck, and the custom of
jerking the subject into the air by means
of a heavy weight is apt to result in dis
locating the spinal column. Originally
hanging was designed for strangulation
| only, and this death, when the rope is
properly adjusted is absolutely painless
1t is only on account of the clumsiness
and unSkillfulneSS OF the eXecutioner that
we are called upon to witness and to read
OF SO many horrible scenes at executions. A
man in England who was known as Half
hanged Smith, because he was pardoned
after he had been swinging in the air for
half minute or so, said that he felt no
pain, and cursed those who revived him
| for not allowing him to die painless death.
! Physicians who had made experiments
notably DR.. Graham HammondAhad
found that the sensations were first a great
weight on the limbs, then tingling all
over the body, loud roaring in the ears,
flashes of brilliant light before the eyes
and sounds OF ravishing music. AT no
time was there any sense OF positive pain.
The contortions of the face that are wit
messed at executions where n cap is not
drawn over it, and the commissions OF the
| limbs and the trunk, are not evidences of
pain. They are tie same symptoms as
those exhibited by an epileptic-no more,
no less. They are not evidences OF sensi-
bility.
The method OF hanging known in this
country as 1ynching' is the proper one.
Lynchers never fail. Sometimes they
shoot bullet holes into the dangling badly.
but that is not a necessary part of the
ceremony. Their victim is thrown upon
the ground, rope adjusted around his
neck, and then strong hands haul him UP
10 the limb of tree and the thing is done.
Legal executioners might take q lesson
from the lynchers The criminal should
| be placed in n chair, the rope carefully
and accurately placed around his neck,
and then he should be deliberately hauled
| up-by means of pulley. He would then
die within seven or eight minutes and alb
solutely without PAIN
DIR. Hammond afterquoting from numer-
Gus medical works in proof OF his nsscr-
ton that hanging is painless, dissecied the
report of the committee recommending
the use Of electricity, and pronounced the
| t,coI IL, ~ Tho troat ocf ho bo 4