Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1888-03-01


in a torture not contemplated by the
law is another evil OF the present system.
Ropes break, men are strangled or mu-
tilated, the community Is shocked,
justice is upbraided and sympathy goes
to the maefactor 10 hang q man and
produce instant death is shown 10 be IA
matter of both skill and experience,
and to find an eXecutioner who is eX
pert is not always an easy matter.
gain, the responsib liiy for the
mechanism of death should n tfall upon
the sheriff 1t is penal affair and be-
longs properly TO penal institution. (
is wrongIng public Official TO thrust
upon him the task Of executing telon,
when by hitch in mechanism Of
which he knows nothing the execution
may be bungled and the anger of the
community raised against INN
For these and for score OF reasons
the proposed system should e adopted.
Electricity is the swiftest and most
certain of all poss bic means by which
death may be inflicted. Ninety-live feet
a second is the estimated speed OF nerve
sensibility. Electricity travels 10000
miles in like space of time. The
brain is paralyZed before it can feel the
shock, the wet III of the current passes
from life to death without knowing the
blow. Obviously, there IS u twofold
gain in this method. First. entirely
prevents mishap. The current passes
when the fatal joining OF Tie wires
occurs. and death Is given. The
distant dynamo gives no sound the
| condemned man may hear He - led
to a chair and seated. One metallic
conductor is placed against The nap OF
the neck, salt water being applied 70
| the hair TO elab G 1t To transmit the
current. The other conductor IS placed
on the top OF the head, the hair being
wet, or on either temple or both. The
| connect on IS then made anG the man IS
dead on the instant.
To send The current from head to
foot, as proposed, Is obviously a bad
method. A powerful CONFUSION would
inevitably result; the muscles would
still be III action after dealh. Passed
through tne brain, the full fleet on the
life centres would b. iclt and no con
vnlsion would follow. % have this
occur NJ the state prison IS an eminent
" good feature. There il tly belongs
and the rigid dis ipliuc OF such insiitu
tons would proven. .Ee influx Of visit
ors common to city prisons. esidos,
the moral effect upon the other convictS
would be good
To have the day and Tie hour con.
cealed from the dead an would ROT
his last days of the meIuaramatic ia
terc,t they posses, for MS fellows II
| ,,.i,, r,,I l., Ia fa4ss Ia %
| There would be no halo about the head
of frlon who journeys L. state prison
merely to be hurled on some unspecl'
fed day and unSnown hour by 4 swift
and sill, Mt agent FROM the world lie has
offended. No boasts of dying game, "
no incidents OF his last day and las,
hours; nothing but his being swallowed
ND living by the grn walls Of thJ
penitentiary and east forth again some
day, dead.
As to the execution beng secret
viewed only by the cOroncr's jury,
there is nothing to be said ii d'sfavor
The legal taking of life is az best revolt
ing, and the more in privacy the better
Besides, this rohbng the murderer Of
his last swagger and of his sensational
| last appearance will divest crimc of one
of IFS chief glories.
Commodore Gerry's report is full o.
good points and is commendable fol-
good taste and good judgment. Civil.
! iration demands the life of murderer;
as measure of prevention. Most
states which have abol shed it have had
to return to it. 1t is public necessity
that muroererss should die, but humanity
demands that the method shall not be
barbarous. the spectacle public nor TIC
Grim nal apotheosized in his taking of
Electricity, applied in a state prison.
meets these requirements exactly
| New York World.