Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-08-08

peared at the base; the flesh was burning,
and the spectacle was most trying. The
man, the doctors said, suffered no pain,
however. The warden says the voltage
of the first shock was at 1900 volts,
which ran down to point not named.
After the third contact of four minutes
the man was declared dead. The ward
ems certificate of death was signed by all
present and the party broke up at 7:1O to
meet at 8:l5, when the body would be
ready for autopsy. When the mask was
taken off Kemmler's face his eyes were
found half open and his expression,
while not normal or placid, was not hor-
rifying to see. Immediately after the
execution, DR.. Shrady, the eminent ply
sician, said to the reporter: "As far as
kemmler was concerned, the scene was
most narrowing. I mean by that, that
his conduct was so admirable. He dis
played such gentle dignity through 1t all
that it went
STRAIGHT TO THE HEART
of every one present. When the electric
current was applied he stiffened out
under the shock. Think that conscious
ness was at once lost, but that life was
not extinct. After the current had been
applied number of seconds [ think T
myself said dead Then DR.. Fell rushed
in and began to loosen the head piece.
There were convulsive movements of the
chest, and there was a demand that the
current be applied again. This was
done. The instant the contact was made
there was capillary congestion of the face
and hands, which lis regarded as post
mortem appearance, as though you had
applied current to dead body. The
longer the current was kept on after the
period which we call the death period,
this line of congestion gradually sank,
showing that the blood was no longer
propelled to the vessels, but had settled
down to dependent parts as in dead sub
jects."
THE PRESSURE OF THE CURRENT.
The warden was asked by an associ-
ated press correspondent to state the
pressure at the time the current was first
applied. "About 1900 VOLTS" was the
response. "And was that pressure main
tanned in the subsequent applicationw
Dnrston's reply was not definite at all,
but it lent the impression that he did not
know. Subsequently there appeared in
the death chamber tall man, of dark
hair and moustache, who was said to
have been one of the three men who op-
perated the electrical apparatus in the
secret chamber. He is authority for the
statement that the volt metre at the mo-
ment of the first application of the cur
rent to Kemmler registered 1000 to 1900
volts, s,while 1,500 to 1000 volts we're reg
istered at the time of the second applica-
ton
KEMMLER's BODY
was entirely unbound at 7:30, but the
doctors waited until after breakfast for
an autopsy. It was conducted by Drs
Shrady, Macdonald, Spizka and Jen-
kins of New York city and DR.. Daniels
of Buffalo. The doctors prepared
the following preliminary statement
in the results of the autopsy for
the evening papers and will later issue
prepared official statement, giving the
result of the autopsy in detail: They all
agree that unconsciousness was instantly
produced and death was apparently pain
less, Notwithstanding some slight defect
in the electrical apparatus, which re-
qui1ed second contact of the current to
insure death. Extensive charging of the
body at the points of contact of the elec-
trodes, also minute hemorrhages were
found in the serous membranes and ven-
tricles of the brain. The blood was huid
and dark. In the longitudinal sinus
corresponding with the region of the con-
tact the blood was carbonized. There
was decided change in the consistency
and color of the brain, corresponding
with the point of contact. Destructive
changes of the blood corpuscles we're
noted. Finally, as to
THE CAUSES OF THE FAILURE
to kill Kemmler instantly there is said,
by all the physicians, to be no doubt
that CONSCIOUSNESS was stricken instantly
from his brain. The fact that he was not
instantly killed is the result of improper
contact or of insufficient voltage or
pressure. The contact certainly was not
perfect at the head, for two-thirds of the
contact was upon the mans thick
smoothly brushed hair, the clipped spot
being one-third the size of the electrodes
diameter. Warden DurstOn says l,7OO
volts, or pressure, of current was first
applied to Kemmler. When questioned
tonight by an associated press corre-
spondent, if the twenty incandescent
lamps on the circuit to indicate the pres
ence of the current, we're burning when
the bolt was discharged into the muir
'derer. He stated they were. This
should not have been. The moment be-
fore switching the current into Kemmler
the test lamps should have been cut out
Each lamp contains fifty volts, hence
twenty took 1000 volts at once out of
the current that went to- Kemmler.
That left 700 to cause death. The best
authorities state that Is per cent of the
current is stopped at points OF contact,
and that IS per cent is thus Expended in
the body. Eighty-five per cent. OF 700
volts not consumed to-day by the best