Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1890-08-15
NEW YORK LETTER.
NEW YORK,

DEAR REGIsTER-William Kemmler
has at last been executed. 1t had be-
gun to look as though murders could
be committed with impunity in New
York State, but in this case, at least,
the majesty of the law has been up
held. What made this case so cele-
brated is the fact that Kemmler was
the first man in this country to be
electrocuted. After the case had been
through the courts for over year the
Supreme Court declared death by the
electric chair to be legal. One clause
of the new law says that no newspa-
pers shall be represented at an execu-
ton and shall not publish any details
Of it whatever, merely stating that
such a person was duly executed at
such time. The press of New York,
and the country generally, utterly dis
regarded this senseless law; and most
rightly, for the people generally have
a right to know how their laws are
executed. Scarcely had the soul been
burned out of the brutal wife muir
derer at Auburn before the streets
were filled with extras" giving most
sensational accounts of it. 1t is diff
cult as vet to tell whether the newlaw
was a success or not. If the papers
are to be believed, it decidedly was
not. The World gave glaring ac-
count Of it under the double-leaded
head lines Of Brutal" the Sun was
headed "Writhed," the Nees "Horri-
BILE" and all gave the most shocking
details of it. From witnesses it seems
that blunder did occur through one
of the doctors pronounclng him dead
before he really was so. kemmler
was the most unconcerned person In
the whole party and his nerve was
wonderful. When he was seated in
the chair he babe all goodbye and
wished everybody good luck. The ap-
planes were then placed at the base
of his spine and to the top of his head.
This did not suit Kemmler and he told
the warden to screw the cap down
tighter. as he wanted him to make
good lob of this When at last he
dynamo room and the circuit was
turned on. Kemmler gave spas
modic start, a clutch and then was
still. For eighteen seconds the cur
rent, registering ZOO volts, was turned
him dead. AS soon as the poor
Of respiration were observed, and the
current was again switched on. The
mans chest heaved, froth gathered at
his mouth, and the odor of burning
flesh filed the room. For six minutes
was Kemmler in the chair and the
terrible sight was more than some OF
the party could stand. When he was
finally dead and the autopsy held it
of
and brains were baked to powder
and would crumble in the fingers.
The testimony of the experts was then
taken and most all OF them agreed
that, as an experiment, the execution
was success. They claim that
Kemmler did not feel a particle of
pain after the powerful voltage struck
him, and that the slight respiration
was merely muscular action, and had
the current been left on for u few mo
ment longer it would have been all
right. The burning, they say, was
caused by the sponges on the head
getting dry and by the hair not being
cut short enough. Some few doctors
denounce the law, as do nearly all the
papers, as being Erutal and torturous.
OF course the papers give 1t a worse
appearance than it really was, be-
cause they were not allowed to be
present. Edison, the great electri-
clan, says q current of 1,70O volts
would kill a man easily and surely,
but that the current should pass from
hand to hand, thereby reaching the
heart and killing instantly, and not
from the top of the head to the base
of the spine. The dynamo room was
some distance from the death-cham-
Der, and twenty incandescent lamps
were fed from the circuit that supplied
the electric chair This, Edison says,
must have reduced the voltage terri
bly,, as each consumes fifty volts, and
the current was not switched from
the lamps during the execution. Gov.
Hill favors the law and thinks it
success. This first trial was more OF
an experiment and the rest will sure
ly be more perfect. The London pa
pers denounce the new law and the
Chronicle says: THE scene was worthy
of the darkest chambers Of the lnqui-
sition in the sixteenth century
Death is terrible enough in any form,
and certainly should be neted out to
criminals in as rapid and painless a
manner as modern ingenuity can in
vent. II. Is. j.