Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-08-13
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1a1I1 - Eagle
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
SOME INSTANCES IN WHICH ELEC-
TRICKY HAS BEEN FATAL.
Information Rendered Timely by the Re
cent Judicial Inquiry in New York as to
Whether Electrical Execution Should Be
Classed as "Cruel and Unusual"
FSpecial Co,respordence.l

therefore fourteen years old. Before that
period of course the telegraph, ocean cable
and other oonvenienceS in which the eiectri-
cal current is the chief characteristic, were
In universal use. About the time named,
there came that wonderful rush OF new appli-
ances inventions and instruments which have
done so much toward revolutionizing modern
life. We have paid literally for the change.
We have expended millions upon these ideas,
and we have paid in more ways than the pc
cuniary one II Will probably startie the
reader to learn that in this country alone the
new uses of electricity have cost thus far 800
lives, 1900 serious accidents and a loss of
over g, 100000 from fires, lightning strokes
and other disasters.
Several distinguished New York electricians
have kept scrap books, in which they have
preserved the printed accounts of these mis-
haps. Those of Dr.. A w. Jackson, the cleo
tro-therapeutist,a and William Hasnpden John
stone, the inventor and expert, areof especial
value in this regard, and enable whoever
peruses their pages to form very clear idea
of the perils 10 which life is exposed under
the conditions of today One lesson they
teach is of the highest Importance, and that
is the destruction of the old theory that the
current invariably made direct line for the
earth. Instead Of this hypothesis, we now
know that it seeks line of least resistance
and viii pursue the most roundabout method,
in going through good conductors" rather
than pass the fraction of an inch through some
poorly conducting material.
This was well illustrated in Ithaca, n. Y,
on Oct 10, 1854, when Mrs. Marshall, a resi-
dent of that city, triedsto turn the faucet OF
the water pipe in her kitchen. AS she grasped
10 Lib v1o<vaT-ff,l shock and
rsas knocked senseless upon the floor As the
day was clear and sunny, the occurrence
puzzled the physician who was called in
TO attend the woman. He made a
careful examination OF the premises,
and found that burglar alarm wire which
had long before been disconnected with the
central Office had fallen 80 as TO touch the
plumbing work in another part'o of the house
and TO ''cross" an electric lighting wire
half mile away. The explanation was then
simple enough: the current from the latter
had escaped along the dead wire to the woEn-
ans house, where it,paSsed into the lead pipe,
along which it moved until it was lost in the
coil. II is perpeXing, nevertheless, to see
why ii should pass through the faucet into
the woman's body and not go on It's way di-
rectly to the earth; for while her body was a
better conductor than the dry soil into which
the plumbing ran, yet she stood upon
wooden Soor, which Is, unless very wet, a
poor conductor of the force.
An incident in this case was the throwing
of Mrs. Marshall to the floor. It would seem
as If the current put the nerves and muscles
into a condition of tension SO great that when
it was taken off they would at times perform
feats Of strength altogether incredible. At
time it was believed that gaivanic force
itself was the propulsive power, but with few
exceptions it is now certain that bhose cases in
which heavy men are hurled violently from
where they stand are due to the sudden and
vigorous action of the muscular system.
A horrible exemplification of this was af
forded by a young man named james e.
Westcott, in Rochester, on Oct. Is, 1882. He
was employed by the Western Electrical COM
pany of that place, and was busy oiling and
cleaning the machinery used by that corpora
ton. He touched live" wire which had
not been properly insulated or secured, and
YVES terribly burned. His fellow workmen
rushed forward and turned of the current,
but either before they succeeded in SO doing,
OF else at the very moment of cutting off, he
sprang or was thrown head foremost six feet
into the moving machinery, crushing the face
and skuH into an indistinguishabe pulp.
IN SOne eA bIfSu az
college, a number of cats were electrified
with moderate currents. In each case the
animal arched itself up into the same posi-
ton as it assumes when very beliigerent, and
when the circuit was broken sprung UP side
ways high into the air, thence falling to the
ground, where it lay either insensihle or kick
ing and screeching vigorously. This tremen-
dous muscular tension seems not only auto
h,,t u. rNar-oniyasl i'm
felt by the sufferer.
In 1881 number OF Brooklyn gentlemen
Experimental upon themselves with a view
of determining this point When the metal
handles through which the current was APP
piled were hung from the ceiling about six
feet from the floor, the experimenter who
grasped them drew himself In nine cases out
of ten up from the ground, and in three out
of ten SO far up that his knees almost touched
his chin, and there remained until the circuit
was broken. in this position not only the
muscles required for the feat, but the ones
not in use, were found TO be as hard and
Rnotted as those of the best trained athlete.
1t Is this feature which seems to give cleo
trioity its singular remedial power in many
forms of rheumatism and neuralgia DR..
Jackson sid in lecture on the topic: There
Is no doubt in the minds of scientific phYsi-
clans bat that in a few years every case of
rheumatism can and viii be cured by the
proper application of the current" and both
Johnstone and Edison have frequently called
attention to tho immunity from complaints
OF this class enjoyed by the operatives en-
ployed around dynanlos and similar mechan-
isms.
A volume might be written of the singular
routes pursued by the electric force in these
cases of accidents and deaths In 1854 George
Walsh, while seeking shelter from the rain
under an awning on the Bowery. near Spring
street, placed his hand upon the plate glass
window of the building and was immediate
Nv Knocked down. He Is an expert electrician,
and, knowing glass 70 be perfect non-con-
ductor, was dumfounded.
Despite the rain he went TO work 70 find
out the secret of the occurrence. At the eud
of the awning an electric lightning wire
crossed the awning frame The movement
of the latter 10y the wind had rubbed of the
Insulating cover of the wire and allowed the
galvanic fund TO escape into the iron pipes Of
which ii was made Ii passed from the metal
To the wet awning canvas and thence to the
wet surface OF the front of the buikilOS.
Down this II moved until il reached the hand
some gold lettering on the glass. when ii
promptly notified Mr. Walsh OF its presence
the moment he put his hand upon one OF the
gilded characters
1t seems strange that water should be so
good conductor but such is the fact. In
1857, at fire on Broadway in the evening,
q stream of warIs, from or.a oF -, ,,.,,as