The daily state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 188?-1891, 1890-08-07

seconds The jury and the witnesses
VINO had up to this moment remained
seated, came hurriedlv forward and sur
rounded the chair. There was no move
ment OF the body beyond the first con-
1t Was No: a Pretty Sight.
THIS man in his shirt sleeves honnd
hand, foot, body and even head with a
heaVy framework pressing down on the
oop o. MS skull, still with the stiffness
ol death. DR.. Mcdonald held his stop
watch IN his hand, and, as the secon DIS
new oy, he noted their passage. DR..
opitzka, too, looked at the stop watch.
ana as the tenth second expired, he
cried out
STOP" cried other voices about. The
warden turned to the doorway and cal
leo out: "stop" to the man at the lever.
a quick movement of the arm and the
electric current was switched off There
was relaxation Of the BODY il the
CHAIR slight relaxation-but the
Straps held 1t SO firmly in the chair that
there was not a quarter of an inch yari-
atlon IN the position Of any part of the
frame. The quiet little group around
the chair grew business like.
"He's Dead,o
SAID DR.. Spitzka, calmly. "Oh, he's
oead, re-echoed Dr. Mcdonald with
flrm confidence. The rest OF the wit
nesses noted their acquiesence. There
was no question in the mind of anyone
out that the stiff, upright object before
them was lifeless.
This was the programme; this the in. .
evitable effect The next question was
what was to be done with the BODY.
Or. Spltzka stepped forward and call
ed attention to the appearance of the
nose, which, he said, had an undoubted
post mortem color. No one disputed
this. DR.. Spitzka turned around in a
buslness-hke way and pointing to the
harness said: "Oh, undo that. Now
the body can be taxed to the hospital. .
The warden replied that he could not
let any of the witnesses 60 until he had
their certificates All of this conyersa-
ton took but moment. DR.. Balch was
bending over the body looking at the ex-
posed skin.
Suddenly he cried out sharply, Or.
Mcdonald,
See That Rupture.''
In a moment DR.. Spitzka and DR..
Mcdonald had bent over and were
looking where DR.. Balch was pointing
At a Little Red Spot
on the hand that rested in the right
arm of the chair. The index finger of
the hand had curved backward as the
t1exor muscles contracted, and had
scraped small hole in the skin at the
| base Of the thumb on the back of the
hand. There was nothing strange ia
this alone; but what was strange was
that the little rupture was dripping.
Turn the current on Instantly;
This Man is not Dead.''
cried DR.. Spitzka. Faces grew white
and forms fell back from the chair.
Warden Durston sprang to the doorway
and cried,
! t'Turn on the Current.o
But the current could not be turned
on. When the signal to stop had come
the operator had pressed the little but
ton which gave the sign to the engineer
to stop the dynamo. The dynamo was
almost at a standstill and the volt metre
registered an almost imperceptible cur
rent. The operator sprang to the button
and gave sharp quick signal There
was rapid response, but quick as it was
it was
Not Quick Enough
to anticipate the signs of what may or
may not have been returning conscious
ness.
AS the group of horror-stricken wit
nesses stood helplessly by, all eyes fixed
on the chair, Kemmler's
Lips Began to Drop SpittIe,
and in moment more, his chest moved.
aud from his mouth came heavy ster-
terious sound, quickening and increas-
ing with every respiration-if respira-
ton it was. There was no voice but
that Of the warden, crying to the opera
tor to turn on the current, and the
wheeling sound, half groan, which forced
itself past the tightly closed lips sounded
through the still chamber
With CHASTITY Distinctness.
Two thousand volts were sent through
the body in the chair. How long it was
kept in action no one knows. To the
excited group of men about the chair it
seemed
An Interminable Time.
For the men who stood in front of the
volt metre in the adjoining room and
threw the switch lever over backward
and forward, time had no measurement.
Dr. Daniel, who looked at his watch
excitedly and who throughout had an
approximate idea of the time at least,
said that it was four and half min
utes in all. The warden's assistants
who stood over the dynamo, said that
on the second signal the machinery was
run only three and half minutes alto
gether. 1t will never be known with
any degree Of accuracy what the space
of time was. No one was anxious te
give the
Signal to Stop.
All dreaded the responsibility of offer
ing to the man chahce to revive or tc
give again at least those appearances o1
returning animation which had
Startled and so Horrified
the witness few minutes before.
Some of the witnesses hurried away
from the sight. One of them
Lay Down Faint and Sick.
It takes long, long time to tell the
strory.
n lo.,~ tiv,oo oil