Thomas County cat., 1890-08-14

AUBURN, N. 1.-Nltn a snort, sharp snOck
painless. SO far as the world will ever know
the soul of William Kemmler was sepa-
rated from his body at GAO O'Clock Wednes-
aay morning.
A cap adjusted to the head of a man bound
captive in strange looking chair. lever
quickly swung around the arc of q semicir-
Gle, quick convulsion, sudden revival Of
muscular action, another turn of the lever, q
pause, q room filled with sickening fumes of
burning flesh-and twenty seven witnesses of
the first electricide in history know that the
1eath of Tillis Ziegler had been avenged in
.aw, and the crime of William Kemmler e1-
plated so far a. human hands could force its
expiation.
Kemmler was by far the coolest man IN
The party. He did not look about the room
vlth any special degree of interest. He heSi-
tated as the door was closed behind him and
carefully locked by an attendant on the other
side, as though he did not know exactly what
to do.
This was his address to the witnesses
present:
''Well, I wish every one good luck in this
world, and think I am going to q good
place, and the papers has been saying lot
of stuff that amt so. That is all I have to
tell.''
The electric current was turned on. There
was a sudden convulsion of the frame in the
chair spasm went over it from head to
foot, confined by the straps and springs that
held it firmly, so that no limbs or other parts
of the body stirred more than q small frac-
ton of an inch from its resting place. The
twitching that the muscles of the face under
went gave to it for moment an expression
of pain. But no cry escaped from the lips,
which were free to move at will. No sound
came forth to suggest that consciousness
lasted more than an infinite fraction of a
second beyond the calculation of the human
mind. The body remained in this rigid posi-
ton seventeen seconds. The jury and the
witnesses. who had remained seated up to
this moment, came hurriedly forward and
surrounded the chair. There was no move
ment of the body besides the first convul-
sion.
The index finger of the hand had curved
and had scraped a small hole in the skin at
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.. Spitzka.
The faces grew white and forms fell back
the doorway and cried:
Turn on the current!'
But the current could not be turned on.
The operator sprang to the button end gave
a sharp, quick sign. There was a rapid re.
sponse, but quick as it was it was not quick
enough to anticipate the signs of what may
or may not have been reviving conscious
ness. As the group of horror-stricken WIT.
nesses stood helplessly by, all eyes were fixed
on the chair. kemmlers lips began to drip
spittle, and in a 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.
itself past the tightly closed lips, sounded
through the still chamber with CHASTITY dis
tinctness. There were % seconds in the in
terval which elapsed between the moment
when the first sound issued from Kemmler's
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 had passed through Kemmler's
body.
The sound which Mortified the listeners
about the chair, was cut off sharply as tho
body once more became rigid. The Shiny
ooze still dripped from the mouth and raE
slowly in three lines down the beard and OF
to the grey vest. Twice there were twitch,
ings of the body as the electricians in the
next room threw the current on and 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
ohms was sent through the body in the chair.
As the anxious group stood silently watch
ing the body, suddenly there arose from it
white vapor, bearing with it pungent and
sickening odor. The body was burning.
Many think that but for the second current
he would have come to life.