Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-06

bent over. and we're iooking where DR.. Batch
was pointing, at little red spot on the hand
chair. The index finger of the hand
had curved backward a. The
small hole in the skin at the base of the thumb
on the back Of the hand. There was nothing
strange In this alone, but what was strange was
tnss the little rupture was dropping blood.
Turn the current ON instantly, this man b not
dead!" cried DR.. Spitska. Faces grew white
and forms fen back from the chair. j..
w., warden DER. Durston sprang to the doorway and
cried, Turn on the current"
But the current could not be turned on.
When the signal TO stop had come the operator
had pressed the little button which gave the
ngn TO the engineer TO stop the dynamo. The
dynamo was almost at . standstill and the volt
meter registered an almost imperceptible cur
and gave sharp. quick signal:
There was rapid response, but
quick 40 u was u was not quick enough 10
anticipate the signs Of what may or may not
group OF horror-strioken witnesses stood help
iessly by, all eyes fxed ON the chair, Ksmmlsrs
lips began TO drip spitte. and In q moment
more his Ghost moved and from his
mouth came q heavy stertorous sound. quick
ening and increasing with every respiration
Krespiration it was. There was no Voice but
that OF the warden crying to the operator to
turn on the current, and the Wheeling sound,
half groan, which forced itself past the tightly
closed lips sounded through the still chamber
turned away from the sight. One Of them
lad down, faint and sick. 1t takes long, long
time to tell the story. II seemed q long time
reaching climax. In reality there were but
seventy-three seconds in the interval which
elapsed between the moment when the first
sound issued from KemmIer's lips until the
response to the signal came from the dynamo
room.
THE SECOND CURRENT TURNED on.
1t came with the same suddenness that had
marked the first shock which passed through
Kemmiers body. The sound which had horri-
fed the listeners about the chair was cut of
sharply AZ the body once more became rigid.
The Shiny ooze still dropped from the mouth
and ran slowly in three lines down the beard
and on TO the gray vest. Twice there
were twitchings Of the body as the electricians
IN the next room threw the current on aud of.
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. How l,ng it was kept In &C.
ton no one knows. To the excited
group Of men about the chair 1t seemed
an interminable time. For the men who stood
in front Of the volts meter in the adjoining
room and threw the switch lever over back
ward and forward, time had no measurement.
DIR. Daniel, who looked at his watch excitedly
and who thought he had an approximate idea
half minutes in all. The warden's assistant,
who stood over the dynamo, said that
on the second signal the machinery was run
only three and a half minutes altogether. It
will never be known with any degree of accu-
racy what the space of time was. No one was
anxious to give the signal to stop. All dreaded
the responsibility OF offering to the man q
chance to revive or to give again at least those
appearances of returning animation which had
startled and sickened the witnesses Q few
minutes before.
THE BODY BEGINS TO BURN.
Az the anxious group stood silently watching
the body, suddenly there arose from IL q white
vapor bearing with 1t pungent and sickening
odor. The body-was burning. Again there
were cries to stop the current and again the
warden sprang to the door and gave the quick
order to his assistants. The current stopped
and again there was the relaxation OF the body.
No trouble this time thaA the current had done
its work-if not well, at least completely Mr..
Fell turned and said: "Weli, there is no doubt
about one thing. The man never suffered an
iota OF pain"
In after consultations the other physicians
expressed the same belief. 1t was some miti-
CATION OF the horrors of the situation to believe
TINS. There was some consolation in the
thought that those heavy hoarse sounds were
mitigation was slight, extremely slight, when
1t developed that in another and Just as i'm
portant point-one on which the success Of
the experiment seemed to depend largely il
not altogether-these same doctors disagreed
very materially. Was Kemmler dead when
his chest moved and his lips gave forth those
strange, CHASTITY soundsi Was he breathing or
was it involuntary action of the chest muscles?
Some OF the eminent experts in attendance said
while the body was still warm in
IN hair hat fhnrA xl,ox Al
were signs OF returning animation-that the
respiration (for respiration they believed 1t to
be) was growing stronger, and that in time, if
the current mad not been turned on
again, he would have revived.
Others--and among them DR.. spitzka-
stated with equal positiveness tho convio-
ton that the first shock killed kemmler in
stantly. DIR. Daniel and DIR. Southwick (the
father OF the system Of electrically believe that
hemmler was dead, but they think that the
current should have been continued longer
than seventeen seconds, which was the official
time Of the first contact. There 10 no way in
which positive determination of this question
can be made. 1t will always remain q mystery.
THE&UTopsY SHOWS NOTHING NOVEL 20 FAR
The autopsy was begun at about o'clock.
1t was in charge Of DR.. jenkins of New York,
who handled the knife, DR.. Daniel, Dr. Mac
Donald and DR.. Spitzka. DR.. Fell prepared the
blood drawn from the body for examination
under the microscope. 1t was found when the
body was spread out on the table that very
severe rigor mortis had set in. There was
little relaxation and IL was with difficulty
that the corpse was Strengthened out On ex-
animation it was found that the second
electrode had burned through the skin and
into the flesh at the base OF the spine, making
scar nearly five inches in diameter. The
heart lung and other organs were taken out
and were found to be in good healthy condi-
ton. They will be preserved for further ex-
animation. The brain also was taken out and