The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-08-14
ELECTRICITY As A MEANS OF CAPITAL


A. a MEANS Oh
PUNISHMENT.
After many months of delay and legal
struggle unprecedented in the courts of this
country, the murderer William Kemmler
was executed on the morning of the 9th
inst. in the prison al Auburn, n. Y, by the
use Of electricity as the fatal agent. This
WAS the FIRST execution under the new law
passed by the New York Legislature to
abolish hanging and substitute electro-kill-
ing as the highest form of punishment in
the State. The law was adopted after n
long and ardent crusade against hanging on
the ground of its barbarity. The many
siekeniDg exhibitions of bungling work
on the gallows secured popular assent for
the movement, and il was successful. IL
was claimed that the sole object of the
change was TO make executions certain,
swift and painless.
Now that the first experiment has been
made, ii is still unsettled whether the object
sought by the promoters of the new law has
been attained. Indeed it is doubtful whether
it would be good thing for the safety Of
society if it were successful from the stand
point Of the originators Of the measure. 1t
is the pain Of death rather than death itself
that is dreaded
As usual, there is a row among the medi-
cal men who participated in the ceremony
Of killing the wretch, and sharp recrmina-
lions are being INDUCED in. Some main
tain that the man was killed within the
fraction Of a second others are equally sure
that be was tortured 10 death by the most
horrible means known 10 human ingenuity.
OF course there viii be an instant clamor
from the Bowery and the slums ofthe cities
generally against the brutality OF the exc
cutiOn. The daily newspapers which cater
TO this element will voice the same sentiment.
The fact is that with these gentry and their
organs any kind of punishment Is detestable,
I and should be abolished.
There is another class Of persons who really
consider themselves good citizens, who will
reinforce the demand for the repeal Of the
/ law. These are the sentimentalists to whom
rnuTderers are heroes. They keep the cell,
Of the wretches in the jails supplied with
bouquets, and do all they can TO thwart tn,
attempts Of The law 10 make crime obnox
ious
Such people gave no thought 10 the woman
the brute Kemmler killed with a haichet
bat threw every obstacle in the way of hi
punishment on the ground of mercy.
While admitting that the first experiment
was not so satisfactory as it was hoped j
would he, the conservative people Of New
York viii presumably not be carried ava
by popular craze, and will insist that
single execution furnishes no adequat
grounds f0r deciding whether the Westing
house Dynamo is superior to the rope as
means Of capital punishment or not.
Doubtless the electric light company viii
continue, as for months past, to resort Z
every possible ezpedient 10 discredit the la,
which makes conspicuous the deadly natur
Of their machinery. They furnished Kemmle
the means TO carry his appeals up from on
court 10 another, till the final tribunal {
the Nation was reached.
Instead ofrepealing the law, the electrica
appliances should be perfected in every pos
sible way, and then tried on the convicte
cUt-thrOats waiting their turn in the Toni
and Sing Sing.