The Globe-republican., 1890-08-13

down against the nose OF hcmWACE W.
til it fiattened it down slightly over his
face.
While the straps were being arranged,
Kemmler said to the warden and his as
sistant: take your time. Don't be In
a hurry. Be sure that every thing is all
right"
The door leading into the room where
the switches were arranged was partly
open. A man stood in the doorway.
Beyond him were two other men.
Which of them was to touch the lever
and make the connection with the cnair
was not known. Warden Durston says
it will never be known.
The dynamo in the machine shop was
running at good speed and the volt
meter on the wall registered little
more than 1, 900 volts. Warden Durston
turned to the assemb led doctors-those
Immediately around the execution chair
and asked: do the doctors say It's
all right?"
Hardly a minute had elapsed since
the adjustment of the straps. There
was no time for Kemmler to have weak
ened even if his marvellous courage had
not been equal to the test OF further de-
Law. But there is no fear that he would
have lost courage. He was as calm in
the chair as he had been before he en-
tered the room and during the progress
of his confinement by the straps, which
him close.
At the warden's question. DR.. Fell
stepped forward with long syringe in
his hand. and quickly, but deity. wet
ted the TWO sponges which were at the
electrodes-one on top of the head and
the other at the base of the spine. The
water which he put on them was i'm
pregnated with salt
DIR. Spitzka then answered the war
denis question with sharp "All right"
which was heard by others about him.
Ready" said Durston again, and then
goodbye"
He stepped to the door and at the
opening said to some one in the next
room. but to whom will probably never
be known with certainty: Every thing
is ready"
In almost immediate response, and
as the stop watches in the hands OF
some of the witnesses registered 6:4311s,
the electric current was turned on.
There was sudden CONFUSION of the
frame in the chair. A spasm went over
it from head to foot, confined by the
straps and springs that held it firmly so
that no limb or other part of the body
stirred more than a small fraction of an
inch from its resting place.
Dr. Mcdonald held stop watch in
his hand and as the seconds flew by he
noted their passage. DR.. Spitzka. too.
looked at the stop watch and as the
seventeenth second expired no cried
out: "Stop" Stop" cried the other
voices about.
The warden turned to the doorway
and called out stop" to the man at the
lever. A quick movement of the arm
and the electric current was switched
of. There was Relation of the body
in the chair-a slight relaxation-but
the straps held it so firmly that there
was not quarter of an inch variation in
the position of any part of the frame.
The attending experts pronounced the
man dead, but closer examination
showed signs OF life and DR.. Spitzka
cried out: Turn the current on in.
stantly. This man is not dead"
The operator sprang to the button and
gave a sharp, quick signal. There was
a rapid response, but, quick as it was, it
was not quick enough to anticipate the
signs of what may or may not have been
reviving consciousness.
As the group of horror-stricken wit
nesses stood helplessly by, all eyes fixed
on the chair, Reminders lips began tc
drip spittle and in moment more his
chest moved and from his mouth came
a heavy sound, quickening and increas-
ing with every respiration-if respira-
ton it was.
There was to be no mistake this time
about the killing. The dynamo was
run up to its highest speed and again
and again the full current of 1000 volts
was sent through the body in the chair.
The current was applied until there
was no possible chance that KemmleI
still lived. 1t was turned off thirteen
minutes after the first shock was ap.
piled.
Kemmler was dead.
THE AUTOPSY.
AUBURN, n. Y, Aug. The results
of the autopsy on the body of Kemmler,
held three hours after death, were made
public last night and is voluminous and
technical.
The body was we'll nourished and the
skin had but few marks. The abrasion
on the finger was caused by clinchine
of the nails when the shock came. Blu
few drops of blood escaped. There va!
a superficial burn on the head where
the cup rested. A portion of tn,
skin over the spine about thre.
inches wide was badly burned
On making an incision of the Skin
nothing remarkable was noticed. Tn,
lungs were full of air and the air eel
relaxed. The diaphragm was normal, bu
the kidneys were cengested. Severa
emissions took place at the time of tn,
| shock.
The heart weighed three and one-hal
pounds and was filled with blood, show
ing instantaneous stoppage of the cir
cnla tiOn Tho hlOOd ShOwod a marie.