Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-08-07
slckENING.



The Scene Which Occurred In the Deaf Ii
Chamber.
"He s dead" said DR.. Spitzka calmly.
"Oh, he Is dead" re-echoed DIR. McDon-
aid with firm confidence. The rest of
the witnesses nodded their acquiescence.
There was no question in the mind of
anyone but that the stiff, upright object
before them was lifeless. This was the
program: this the inevitable effect. The
next question was What was to be
done with the body? Spitzka stepped
forward and called attention to the ap-
pearance of the nose, Witch, he said, had
an undoubted post-mortem color. No one
disputed this.
DR.. Spitzka turned around in bust
ness-like way and pointing to the har-
ness said "Oh, undo that. Now the
body can be taken to the hospital" The
warden replied that he could not let any
of the witnesses go until he had their
certificates All of this conversation
took but minute. DIR. Batch was
bending over the body looking ut the ex-
posed skin.
Suddenly he cried out sharply: Or
Mcdonald, see that rupture" In mo-
ment Dr. Spitzka and DIR. Mcdonald
had bent over and looking where DIR.
Batch was pointing at little red spot
on the hand that rested on the right arm
of the chair. The index finger of the
hand had curved backward as the hexor
muscles contracted and had scraped a
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 that the little
rupture was dropping blood.
"Turn the current on instantly. This
man is not dead cried Dr. Spitzlxa.
Faces grew white and forms fell back
from the chair. Warden 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 sign to
the engineer to stop the dynamo. The
dynamo was almost at a standstill and
the voh meter register ed an almost inn
perceptible current.
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
reviving consciousness. As the group
of horror-stricken witnesses stood help
lessly by, all eyes fixed on the chair,
Kemmler's lips began to drip spittle and
in moment more his chest moved and
from his mouth came heavy stertorous
sound, quickening and increasing with
every respiration-if respiration it was.
There was no voice but that of the
warden, crying to the operator to turn
on the current, and the wheeling sound,
halt groan, which forced itself past the
tightly closed lips sounded through the
still chamber with CHASTITY distinctness.
Some of the witnesses turned away from
the sight. One of them lay down faint
and sick. It takes long, long time to
tell the story. 1t seemed long time
reaching a climax.
In reality there were but seventy
three seconds in the interval which
elapsed between the moment when the
first sound issued from Reminders lips
until the response to the signal came
from the dynamo room. 1t came with
the same suddenness that had marked
the first shock which passed through
Kemmler's body.
The sound which had Mortified the
listeners about the char was cut off
sharply as the body once more became
rigid, The Shiny ooze still dropped from
the mouth and ran slowly in three lines
down the beard and onto the gray vest.
Twice there were twitchings of the
body as the electricians in the next
room threw the current on and off.
There was to be no mistake about the
killing this time. 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 long it was kept in action no one
knows. To the excited group of men
about the chair it seemed an intermina
BILE time. For the men who stood in
front of the volt meter in the adjoining
room and threw the switch lever over
backward and forward time had no
measurement.
II will never be known with any
degree of accuracy what the space Of
time was. No one was anxious TO give
the signal to stop. All dreaded the re-
sponsibility of Offering to the man
chance to revive or TO give again at
least those appearances of returning
animation which had startled and
sickened the witnesses few minutes
before. As the anxious group stood
silently watching the body, suddenly
there arose from it white vapor bear
ing with it pungent and sickening
odor. The body was burning.
Again there We're 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 doubt this time that the
current had done its work, if not well,
at least completely.
DR. Fell. who stood at the side Of the
special correspondent of the United
Press. turned and said: well, there is
no doubt about one thing. The man
never suffered an iota of pain"
In after consultations the other ply
sicjans expressed the same belief. 1t
was some mitigation of the horrors of
the situation to believe this. There YVES
some consolation in the thought that