Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-07-17
FOR KEMMLER'S LIFE
Testimony of Electrical Ex-
 ports Befere the Referee.
THE EFFORTS TO SAVE HIS LIFE.
Various Opinions as to How Much Light
 ming Man Gan Stand.

Staying by Electricity Pronounced
 Endless and Painless Death-Another
 Expert Says He Does Not Know of an
 Electric Current that Could be Consil-
 cred Absolutely Fatnl-Burke Cochran's
 Opinion of tho Law.
 NEW YORK, July 1.-The reference whether the new method of execution by electricity Is . cruel and unconstitutional one was continued to-day in the presence of an audience of interested electrical experts.
 Dr. Frederick Paterson was the first witness called. He claimed to be special ist of nervous diseases. I'm some cases when he had cut the dogs open after they had been experimented on by expert Brown the heart beat for 96 minutes. This he said was no indication of life. In these experiments in Columbia College the wit ness stated that some Of the dogs seemed to suffer pain. This was not noticeable with those performed on in Edison's labor atory. He was confidant that the accurate resistance conld be measured at any mo- mont.
 J. w. Noble, an expert connected with the Westinghouse Electric Company, was ueAG ieCdllou. hc fcldCoO HIS oXp0TlouCo with dynamo generating 8 force of 1.050 volts, the same as that on the State execu- tion machine. One day while tending the machine he accidentally fell and his hands came tn contact with the polesA The result was that he received a sever6 shock. Hls hands were burned and the skin came off, leaving them sore for weeks. The only physical effect experienced was extreme nervousness for several hours.
 In the opinion of MT. Noble the Nesting house machine might be increased with safety POO or 300 volts Beyond that 1t would be dangerous. He did not know of any electrical current that could be consid- cred absolutely fatal.
 MT. Noble said that from experiments he had tried Instead of the resistance lower ing with series of measurements it in- creased
 Bourke Cochran, who Is counsel for Kemmler, and for the electric lightning company which objects to the use of It's current for death dealing purposes, declines to discuss what he will do in case the death is proved to be cruel and uncertain. MT. Cockran says that, if 1t is so proved, the law will be unconstitutional, As the consti- tuition states that criminals shall be put to death, but not by unnecessarily cruel means. In this case the law of hanging will be revived. because the present law will be as if never passed. Criminals will be hanged as has been the custom.
 Mir. Cochran thinks that this agitation of the question of the legal death, the uncer- tainty of the electricial appliance and the public opposition to the hanging process will tend toward the abolition of the death penalty entirely.
 MT. Cochran says that there is no doubt that electricity will kill certain mon, but not all men. It has been argued that if the cur rent is made powerful enough there will be no uncertainty as to the death. Mir. Cochran says that his Investigations prove that it depends entirely upon the resistance offered by tho subject. Cases arc on record where persons have handled wires which carried hundreds of amperes of electricity, when the experts say that half an ampere Is sufficient to cause death under aprdinary circumstances.