Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1889-05-30
Electricity for Murderers

s. long ~ many Of the States in the
luion demand that murderer, shall be pun
i,hed ~ death the opponents of capital
Punishment ouga- to welcome any means
f,r thc execution of capital offenders
which Shall prove lr>> shocking and bar
harou> than hanging l. i interesting to
know THAT the State If New York ha>
abolished Tile ga,low. AMI adopted in il
stead electricity a. a means OF putting to
death those found guilty Of capital crimes
and sentenced 10 death.
At a recent conference Of the Superin-
t,nieHt Of New York State prisons with
the prison warleu>, one Of the principal
business matters discussed was the placing
in sing sing Auburn and Clinton prisons.
of the electrical apparatus for the execu-
non Of murderers. The first prisoner To
BE executed under the new law, unless the
cour; shall Interfere which i not thought
improbable i k.emmrr, the Buffalo muir
derer. sentenced = be put to death by an
electrical stroke. june 9th Prior to that
date the electrical apparatus which is in
process Of construction for the State by
Harold p Brown Of New York city VIII
have been furnished the three prisons
Mr.. Brown. after much investigation
has reached the decision that the alternat-
ing current machine of the Westing house
Electric Company i the most effective,
and he has bought three Of them. 1t is
r. 8 ~ ..r1
meuts made on animals at the Edison and
Columbia College School Of Mines labora-
tories. that he has been able TO reach the
conclusions he has. He explains the de-
tail. Of the executions as follows:
"A current Of LOCO volts will be used
1t has been found that less than POO volts
would be sufficient but the larger number
will be employed TO provide for all contin-
gencies. If much stronger current were
sent through a man the body W did be
burned. The criminal i sentenced TO be
executed at some time in a given week,
the warden or superintendent to fix the
day and hour. At the appointed time which
is fixed without the knowledge of the con-
demned man, the warden, sheriff aud his
assistants enter the cell and bind the mans
hands before him. A pair of shoes in the
sOles Of which are the metal plates covered
with sponges which form one electrode
and a cap containing the other electrode
are then put on him. He is placed in a
large reclining oak chair, to which he is
securely fastened. The wires from the
dynamo are then connected with the cleo
trodes at the head and feet, the sheriff
touches the button. and in one one-hun-
dred and tiftieth part of second the Grim
inal is dead.
The alternating current sends $50 posi-
tive and the same number of negative
beats from the dynamo every second. Al
though one negative and one positive cur
rent produce death, the electricity is not
turned off for from fifteen TO thirty
seconds. to prevent any of the phenomena
of redex action. When the first shock
passes through the body all the muscles
become rigid, and if the current is at once
checked they will gradually relax, the
limbs will be convulsed, and groans will
be uttered. While these manifestations
are not accompanied by pain on the part
of the criminal, it seems humane to avoid
even the appearance of torture; so the cur
rent is kept up until the muscles relax, this
taking about five seconds. Then the cap
and shoes have only to be removed, and
the body is ready for burial"