The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-10-11
Some OF the Horrors OF Killing Criminala
by Electricity.

Some OF the Horrors OF Killing Criminals
by Electricity.
THE enforcement of the death pen.
atty by means of electric currents wouk'
not only be agonizing beyond concer-
ton, but would also be barbarous IL
the extreme" This is the deliberate
opinion of Myron Law, superintendent
of the electrical department OF the
Brush Electric Company of this city.
Mr.. Law proceeded to give some in
teresting facts to demonstrate the truth
of the conclusion at which he had ar
rived. Amy person" said he, "who
is thoroughly acquainted with an cleo
trio current could not possibly have
| any other idea than this. 1t is absurd
to claim that execution by electricity
is less painful than hanging, that 1t
would be instantaneous in its effects.
or that it would do away with any re-
pugnant feature of our public execu-
| tiOns.
'In the first place death by cleo
tricity is not painless. Hanging.
throat-cutting, the guillotine. shoot
ing, burning to death in molten lead or
in furnaces are painless executions
when compared with that by cleo
tricity. Let me cite few instances OF
the pain felt by those who have re-
ceived severe electric shocks. Six
weeks ago one of my men, named John
Smith. cut an electric wire which he
thought to be dead This was on
Eighth street between SAMSON and
Walnut. Standing on the ladder, with
one hand he grasped the ruptured
wire, which fed forty-eight lamps and
had current of 1900 volts passing
through it. With the other hand he
held by means of plyers the other end
of the wire. Immediately he made the
most heartrending screams for help.
His hands were riveted fast and his
whole body was undergoing most ter
rible contortions.
''The electric current of 1900 volts
strength was passing through his body
and pinned him to the spot. We threw
rope over his hands and jerked him
from his perilous position. Both o.
his hands were burned terribly, and
his whole system was shattered.
When he had sufficiently recovered 6
few days later to be able to talk intel
ligently he said that his sufferings
were terrible beyond description.
Another man in our employ once
received the full force of a current Of
several hundred volts. In removing
his hands from the wire one OF his
fingers dropped off, having been burn.
ed almost to crisp by the current
During the accident his face showed in
a frightful manner intense pain, and hi
body was in constant tremOr.
"Of course, electricity can instan-
taneously kill person, but in that in
finitesimally small space of time Of
the transition from life to death the
person will suffer inconceivable pain.
Although the speed of electricity is at
the rate OF 2S6,OOO miles per second,
the killing can not be so instantane
GUS as to preclude all pain. Every
particle of the nervous tissue is pol
arized, and polarization causes each
particle OF matter to revolve on its
axis. which means the stretching of
the nerves out of all proportion, and
consequently the most intense pain.
But the great fault with execution bv
electricity is that it is almost impossi.
BILE to ascertain just how strong a cur.
rent will kill man instantaneously
and yet not be a barbarous mode OF
killing. If the current be but a few
volts stronger than that required to in.
stantly execute a certain person the
consequences would be terrible. II
would disfgure the body beyond rec
ognition, and would disintegrate every
portion of the corpse.
"Should the current be Just a trifle
too weak to execute a person it would
throw him into a trance so death-like
that 1t is probable that the body would
be buried alive. So. in order to reduce
this new mode of execution to a prac-
teal scientific working. the amount OF
resistance in each body would have to
be previously tested before any ap-
proximate idea could be reached as to
how strong current would surely kill
without disfiguring or disintegrating
the body, or throwing the subject into
a trance. But even if this desideratum
is found there might be some hitch Oh
slight fault in the electrical apparatus
which would spoil every thing. Phil
adelphia Record.