Evening journal., 1889-07-10
HOW ELECTRICITY KILLS.
Interesting Testimony in the
Kemmler Case.
THE EFFECT ON DUMB ANIMALS.

Death by the Alternating Current In
Simultaneous and Palniesa-The Resist.
ance Of the Human Body--The Horrible
Eneet In Some Instances.
NRw YoRK, July 10 The taking Of testi
mony In the case OF William Kemmler, the
first murderer sentenced to die by electricity,
against Charles II. Denston, warden Of Au
burn prison, to establish the fact that killing
by electricity would be cruel and unusual
and therefore forbidden by the constitution,
was continued before Referee Tracy G
Becker in the office Of Lawyer w. Bourla
Cochran in the Equitable building.
Harold =. Brown. the electrical engineer
who made the contract with Gen. Austir
Lathrop, superintendent OF state prisons, u
furnish the electrical machines with which
executions should be accomplished, was
placed on the stand. He said that ia june
and July Of last year he began TO expert
ment on animals TO ascertain the killing pow
ers Of electricity.
The first experiments were made In Mr.
Edison's laboratory with the assistance Of
Mr.. A. Il. Kinley, Mr.. Edisons chief elec
triclan. The physiological parts had tn,
assistance OF Mr.. Frederick Podersen, Of thh
city. Subsequently experiments were made
In the lecture rooms OF the School Of Nine
Of Columbia college.
Experiments on Dumb Animals.
| In the early experiments Mr.. Brown used
dogs for his subjects, and later calves and
horses were brought forward to be expert
mented on. In every case, MI. Brown said
resistance was offered by the animals. A
small current wns passed through the ami
| mails to determine the resistance This VA,
not painful, as the current used i a very
feeble one from o weak battery. He mad,
altogether about forty or fifty experiments
ON dogs, six to ten on calves and two on
horses
1 A Fox Hound Killed.
A current was obtained from an aiternat
ing current generator operating at ,oSD revo
lutions, giving 2SS alternatives per second
A transformer was used in order 70 increas
the electric motor to the desired extent, an,
resistance box was interposed so that tn
electric motor could be otherwise adjusted
A healthy fox hound, weighing ffty-si.
pounds, was connected with the currents b,
means Of his legs, which were wrapped /
punches Of wet waste held IN place by sma
, copper wires hardly larger than the ordinar.
knitting needle The resistance was foun
, to be 25, 700 ohms The current was put O
at full force and IN i've seconds disconnected
The dog was dead
Death instantaneous and Painless.
!, m all the experiments tried by Mr.. Brow
|. he found that death by the alternating Gu
4 rent was instantaneous and painless In Il
\ machines 10 10 used by the state In exec
= tions, MIR. Brown Eaid that the manner Of al
!. plying the current would probably he in q
/ cordance with the suggestion Of the Medic
Y Legal society The criminals hair would |
4 cut short and large electiode five inches
diameter, covered with a sponge slturated
common salted water, DO fastened ta the to
\ Of the head, the other pole being placed /
the shoe, also covered with wet spong
From the results of Mr. Browns experiment
the machines furnished by him 70 the stat
for the execution OF criminals would eau
instantaneous and therefore painless dealt
! Before applying the machine OF execution
the criminal, Mr.. Brown said, tho resistans
Of the human body must be determined
a mistake was made in this and the curreI
l , applied was lively, but not strong enough
! kill, the result would be that the subjel
would be entirely unconscious and unable
feel any pain.
The Machine Would Burn "a tho Bone
eWhat II the sponges that keep the mnl
nets moist should dry up" asked Mr. Cool
ran
The witness was OF the opinion that the
!, would not dry up, but in the event OF an,
thing Of the kind occurring be was forced I
! admit that the part Of the machine next I
the surface Of the skin would burn throug
= the hesh 70 the bone
y "Do you know the method by which deaf
is caused by electricityp
Mr.. Brown thought death was produced b
failure of the heart caused by the shock |
{ the nerves