Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1890-08-16
KEMNILER KILLED.
The Brutal Murderer of His Mis-
tress Electricised.
History Of the Crime and Description of
the Death h-Dealing Apparatus.

tress Electricised.
History Of the Crime and Description Of
the Death Dealing Apparatus.
dispatch from Auburn. N. Y, at G:l0 o. m,
August 0, says Ind dcatlons now look to.
ward the execution OF Kcmmler before
eight o'clock The doctors were all
aroused at their hotel at five o'clock, and
number OF the witnesses, including the two
clergymen who have been all along Offering
spiritual consolation to Kemmler, are within
the prison.
$50 a. m The invited guest" are now all in
the prison There Is large crowd on the out.
side waiting developments. .-I
7;0S a. m.-The sentence OF the law has been
passed upon Kemmler and he has been execu.
ted @ !nby was the first witness TO come out
OF the PRISON at $50 He sad Kemmler had
been killed about ten minutes before.
kemmler was man Of low mental and moral
qualities. The surroundings Of his birth and
cary life were very bad. His father was .
butcher In Philadelphia. where William, the
murderer. was born in 1860. The bor grew up
In the shambles and in the market place.
He worked In . slaughter-bonse with his
father, tnen Uecafne brlchyard worker. and
finally he became huckster on his own 40
count.
In 1887 Kemmler married worthless woman
named Ida Porter In Camden N. J. Two days
later he found she had been previously mar
red, and he left her to live with Matilda Zeg.
ler They moved to Bufiilo. N Y. Kemm.
Ter frequently found his mistress purloining
money from his C 9th ng, and he suspected In
fidelity on her part. They qulrreed, blows
o eYrh m bapa
drunkard
On the morning OF March 30, 1899, all Buffalo
was shocked by the news Of the brutal butchery
Of woman o No SEQ South Division street.
The woman killed was "Tillie Zepler" and the
murderer was the Philadelphia butchers son,
kemmler. The murder was the first that had
been committed in the State OF New York after
the law tn kill murderers by electricity had be-
come operative.
Kemmler was arrested, and in the meantime
the unfortunate woman was removed TO hos
pital. Her face, arms and breast we're covered
with blood, and she was quite insensible. A
casual examination resulted in the discovery OF
twentc.six distinct gashes on the face and head
and fiv' bad wounds on the right hand arm and
shoulder, she having evidently tried to defend
herself from the savage attack other paramour.
She fingered In comatose condition
until the next day when death ensued.
The coroners jury pronounced Kemmler q
murderer and Immediately after the inquest he
was taken from the Jail to the police court and
arrligned on charge OF murder in the first de.
gree He pleaded guilty, saying he had no use
for lawyer. Judge Childs sen enced him to
die within the week beginning June "a, 1889, by
the application OF electricity, as provided by
the code, at Auburn State prison. Counse or
Hatch took exceptions to the sentence uron
he ground that the punishment was cruel and
unusual and contrary to The spirit OF the consti-
tuition. kemmler reach Auburn Friday,
May 81, at midnight. A writ Of ha.
oens copus was served upon War.
den Durston just before the fatal day arrived,
and on June 25 an exhaustive argument was
heard by County Judge Day. The whole argu.
ment was as to the constitutonulty Of the law
substituting electricity for the gibbet, unon the
| ground Of the former being cruel and unusual.
Judge Day dismissed the writ and the case was
taken to the general term Of the Supreme Court
at Rochester where the cohstiulionality OF tho
| law was upheld. The last resort was the Court
o. Appeals, and here, too the decision was ad.
verse TO Kemmlers counsel.
| The or nal was resentenced TO die in tho
week beginning Apr 2S 1870 II is likely
Kemmler would have been electriczcd On April
30 but on the Goth U. S writ Of habeas corpus
was served on the Warden, and the case was
then CARR 20 the U. S Supreme Court on tho
point Of constitu'onality Of the law on tho
same grounds as urged In the State courts The
New York courts were upheld In the final ap
peal and Kemmler was again sentenced TO be
killed in the week beginning Augusta.
Since its construction, under direction OF
Warden Dunston, the chair in which Kemmler
was killed has been In the care OF q conyic,
| clerk in one Of the prison departments.
| The chair is not OF horrid appearance. 1t has
| no lines OF beauty, but with its foOt-rest II af
fords comfortable position 10 the occupant
There is not acurved line on its sturdy frame
Upright and cross-bars, arms and rungs, are OF
heavy hard wood, square and straight
| The chair has perforated wooden seat. The
| side posts OF the back reach above where n hu
man head would rest. There are more buckles
too, and straps, on these posts just below where
the shoulder would rest. to pnion the upper
| arms. The central rest 10 the back is finished
bv a stout broad bar OF wood, at the top OF
which, above the sitter's head, is mortised in q
stout stick which is braced from above. The
| outlines are nearly those Of the figure l.
| Through the st ok thus projecting forward from
| the back bar and over the stters head is a one
quarter inch hole directly above the head. II
current which was the agent Of kcmmler':
| death.
The back bar crowned with It's miniature
gibbet is movable, up and down. through iron
collar-clamps at the back Of the seat and Of the
broad head rest Through the holc in the pro
| jecting stick above the head is passed the heavy
| wire stem OF the electr0de that rests upon the
cad, and through which the death current
flows. Opposite the base OF the spinal column
another hole in the upright brck bar admits
the current wire TO the other pole and its cleo
trode.
The electrodes are heavy yet flexible rubber
cups about four inches In diameter and hav
Ing insi le a copper disk or coil OF co per wire
lin this case a coil The heavy current wire
is introduced into the rubber cup through the
apex. and is connected with the wire coil"C
around the inside OF the cup. A sponge is tt
ted into the cavity of the cup, closely agains
the wire coil The sponge will hold n gill o
water. One electrode is pressed down upon Ih'
head OF the criminal clinging somewhat. be
cause of exhaustion OF air.
Thus, when the electrode Is in position, there
WIS practically only gill Of water between Tho
wire coil and the subjects flesh. The sponge !!
the ultimate conductor of the charge, and. drip
ming with one of natures best conductors, sure
ly fits every wrinkle. into every pore, over ever!
excrescence -onact is perfect upon the Skin
previously saponified.
Fastened TO head.rest Is q pad. heavily
insulated with rubber. fashioned to 1T III,
curves OF the neck and upper spinal column
The criminals head was dr. wn back hard anI
,ight into this neck saddle, by the hcav.
leather mask that fits the forehead, shades TN
eyes and envelopes the chin, but leaves III,
nose and mouth exposed. There were strap
upon the mask that buckle back about the up
right central bar. The head was fixed and fast
The arms were pinoned, the wrists, the elbows
tho legs were bound, o stout strap circled tn
waist and held 1t fast; the electrode for th
head was connected through the stick projec,
ing above the head, the other throught the "a
10 the base OF the spine, and the occupant OF tn
chair was made part OF circuit throug
which, when the current was switched ou
f-S I'D the torca that KILLED hiT.
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