The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1889-04-18
DEATH BY ELECTRICITY.
why II II to BE Preferred 20 Executions -
HAngfng.

Now that New York officials may be
called upon to execute the law requir~
ing that condemned criminals shall be.
put TO death by electricity q storm Of
opposition threatens, and all sorts Of
objections are urged. some OF them inn
peaching the constitutiouality OF the
statute. Complaint is made that the
sheriff can not carry out the law, be-
cause he Is not an expert electrician,
and that those who are engaged in
electrical pursuits will not make the
proper machinery for the occasion;
that the plans suggested are faulty,
inasmuch as they contemplate causing
death by applying the electrical cur
rent to the brain instead of the heart.
and that the fortunes of the condemned
by the new method will be SO horrible
that, by comparison, slow .strangula-
tioE by rope Is ecstacy.
Those who projected this reform
probably anticipated just such oppo--
sition. Even in an enlightened and
progressive country like our own, it is
impossible to rid the public OF bar
barousi and unsightly custom, about
which @dfings the cobwebs, OF ages,
without incurring prejudice. ignorance
and little Of the old spirit which lin
gers in every community long after it
has ceased to be live and potential
factor. There may be difficulties to
overcome in enforcing the law. In
dealing with matter like electricity,
about which there is much to learn.
the law-makers may not have gone in
to details as deliberately as would haye
been prudent, but that there should be
such unconquerable obstacles as is pre-
tended seems preposterous.
The sheriff need not be an expert in
the first place. Hangmen in America
are, never experts, and yet they per-
form their duties as acceptably as their
brethren across the water. A button
will serve the purpose Of spring. and
can be manipulated as easily. The
numerous electrical companies in New
York will provide all the parapher-
MALTA If offered sufficient inducements.
The felon is not executed for his own
| pleasure or convenience, but to deter
| others from committing crime. and the
object of the law*swfff be accomplished
all the same, whether the current
passes through his brain or his heart
AS to the fortunes, they are purely
illusory. No one who has died by
telectricity has returned to gi3ean acz.
count of his sufferings and certainly,
during the brief space intervening
between contact with the current and
dissolution the victim has not been
| able to give much satisfactory data on
the subject. Those who have recov-
cred from an electric shock. like those
who have been resuscitated after being
in the water or being hanged, say that
the process Of coming to is infinitely
more painful than that of dying.
But every large city in The world
has had numerous illustrations of death
by electricity. A workman climbs a
pole and absently touches wire.
Down he drops as dead as door-nail,
without even the fraction of moment
to think of torture. In the same way!
citizen drifts against wire left care
lessly hanging near the sidewalk. and
lies on. the pavement a mass OF mani
mate clay. He may or may not have
tried to shrek, but if he did Improves
nothing except his amazement at the
blow which hurled him into eternity.
Such momentary pain can scarcely be
compared with the writings of one
who is hanged. II the New York Off
| Gals are cornered they can use the
electric light wires. One Of the latter
can be conducted into the felon's cell,
and II they are as efficient in the cases
Of condemned murderers as when they
tackle innocent and unsuspecting vic
Tins on the sidewalks the felons will
scarcely have time to write out their
sensations for the newspapers. -Balti-
more American.