The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1890-08-08

When the straps had been adjusted to
the body and limbs the warden placed his
hand on Kemmlers head and held it
against the rubber cushion which ran
down back of the chair. Kemmler's eyes
were turned toward the opposite side of
the room. Before they had followed the
| warden in his movements about. Then
| the condemned man made one or two re-
marks in a perfectly clear, composed tone
of voice. "Well l wish everybody good
luck" was one of them, and 'Durston,
see that things are all right" was anoth.
er. Deputy Vieling unfastened the thumb
screws which held the figure ''4' at the
back of the chair in place and began to
lower it so that the rubber cup which held
the saturated sponge pressed against the
top OF Kemmler's head. The warden as
sisted in the preparation by holding
Kemmler's head. When the cup had been
adjusted and clamped in place, Kemmler
said: "Oh, you'd better press that down
further L guess Press that down." So
the head piece was unclamped and pressed
further down. While it was being done
Kemmler said: "Well, I want to do the
best l can. 1 can't do any better than
| that"
Wetting the Sponges.
DR.. Fell stepped forward with a long
| syringe in his hand and quickly, but
deftly wetted the two sponges which were
| at the electrodes-one on top of the head
| and the other at the base of the spine.
| The water which he put on them was i'm
| pregnated with salt. Dr. SpitZka an
swered the warden's question with sharp
"All right" which was echoed by others
about him. "Ready?" said Durston again,
and then "Good bye" He stepped to the
door, and through the opening said to
some one in the next room-but to whom
will probably never be known with GER
tainty, Everything is ready" In almost
immediate response, and as the stop
watches in the hands of some of the wit
nesses registered 6:4311, the electric cur
rent was turned on. There was sudden
convulsion of the frame in the chair, and
Kemmler was dead.
Pronounced Dead.
DIR. Mcdonald held stop. watch in his
hand, and as the seconds flew by he noted
their passage. DR.. Spitzka, too, looked at
the stop-watch, and as the tenth second
expired, he cried out stop" The war
den turned to the doorway and called out
stop" to the man at the lever A quick
| movement of the arm and the electric
current was switched off. There was q
slight relaxation-but the straps held it
so firmly that there was not quarter of
an inch variation in the position of any
part of the frame. The quiet little group
around the chair grew business-like.
"Hes dead, " said DIR. Spitzke calmly.
"Oh, he's dead, re-echoed DIR. Mcdonald
with firm confidence. The rest of the wit
nesses nodded their acquiescence. There
was no question in the mind of any one
but that the stiff, upright object before
them was lifeless.
The Victim Not Dead.
DIR. Batch was bending over the body
looking at the exposed skin. Suddenly he
cried out sharply: Mcdonald, see that
rupture" In a moment DIR. Spitzka and
DIR. Mcdonald had bent over and, looking
where DIR. Batch was pointing at, a 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
flexor 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 rup-
ture was dropping blood. "Turn the cur
rent on instantly. This man is not dead"
cried DR.. Spitzka. Faces grew white and
forms fell back from the chair. Warden
Durston sprang to the doorway and
cried: Turn on the current"
There was a 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 helplessly by. all eyes fixed on the
chair, Kemmler's lips began to drip
emit fIn md in Al hsS nhAct
moved and from his mouth came heavy
stertorous sound, quickening and increas-
ing 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, half groan, which forced itself
past the tightly closed lips sounded
through the still chamber with CHASTITY
distinctness.
No Mistake This Time.
Some of the witnesses turned away
from the sight. One Of them lay down,
faint and sick. 1t takes long, long time
to tell the story. 1t seemed a 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 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 passed through Kemm-
ler's body. The sound which had horri-
fed the listeners about the chair 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 rs the electricians in the neSt
room threw the current on and off. There
was to be no mistake this time about the
killing. The dynomo was rum up to its
highest speed and again and again the
full current of 1000 volts was sent through
the body in the chair.
The Autopsy.
The autopsy was begun about o o'clock.
It was in charge of DIR. Jenkins of New
York, (who handled the knife), DR.. Dan
iel, DIR. Mcdonald and DIR. Spitzka. DR..
Fell prepared the blood drawn from the
body for examination under the micro
scope. 1t was found when the body was
spread out on the table that very severe
rigor mortis had set in. There was little