The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-08-07
LEGAL MURDER.
CONTINUED from First Page.l


Continued from First Page)
crime and at one time there were doubts
of his sanity. When pressed to give a
! reason for the crime, he only said: 81
wanted to kill her and the sooner 1 hang
for it the better"
USELESS APPEALS.
The coroner's jury pronounced Kemmler
murderer and when he was arraigned IN
the police court on a charge of murder IN
the first degree, he pleaded guilty, saying he
had no use for a lawyer. Judge Chllds
sentenced him to die within the week be-
ginning June a, 1889, by application of
electricity as provided by the code at Au-
burn state prison. Counsellor Hatch took
exception to the sentence upon the ground
that the punishment was cruel and un-
usual and contrary to the spirit of the
constitution. Kemmler reached Auburn
prison Friday, May a, at midnight. A
writ of habeas corpus was served on the
warden just before the fatal day arrived
and month later an exhaustive argement
was heard by County Judge Day.
Judge Day dismissed the writ and
the case was taken to the general term of
the supreme court at Rochester where the
constitutionality of the law was upheld.
The last resort was the court of appeals
and there, too the decision was adverse to
Kemmler's counsel. The criminal was re-
sentenced to die in the week beginning
April %, $780, but a United States writ Of
habeas corpus was served on the warden
and the case was carried to the United
States supreme court on the point of con-
stitutionality of the law on the same
grounds as urged in the state courts. The
New York courts were upheld in the final
appeal and Kemmler was again sentenced
to be killed in the week beginning Au-
gust 4.
SOURCE OE THE DEATH CURRENT.
Near a small window in the loft above
the marble shops in Auburn prison is
rugged a dynamo which takes power from
the shop below. 1t is a forty horse ma
chine, which is the mechanical force, al
lowing for waste in gearing and transmits
sion, deemed necessary to maintain fifty of
the arc or big white street lamps. This
machine Is so constructed as to generate
what Is known as an alternating current,
or current which undergOes rapid peri
odic changes, being one moment at zero,
then increasing to maximum, diminishing
TO zero, etc.
The Auburn machine is capable of about
23O of these changes every second or about
$4,000 aminute. When applied to the crimi-
nal, these rapidly alternating throbs have
each about the physical force necessary TO
lift l37 pounds one foot in one second |
The nerve cells and tissues are believed to
be racked and smitten first in one direc- |
tion and then another by this terrific and !
minute In electrifying the nerve cells |
are believed to be torn from the glands or
ganglia. disintregrated, killed.
By Edison's calculation, the force of this |
dynamo is sufficient to have destroyed 500 |
other men at the same moment it did |
Kemmler From the dynamo in the loft |
Of the marble shOpin Auburn prison heavy |
wires lead through guage in the wall up |
the top of the building known as the |
south wing Thence they trail along the |
roofs over the main part of the prison and |
creep among the vines that cover the pris- !
on front down to the basement and |
through a square window into the fateful |
room.
THE ELECTRICIZING CHAIR.
COnvicts made the chair on which !
kemmler sat to be killed and it has been
under the care of a convict ever since. 1t is
not OF horrld appearance. The chair has a
perforated wooden seat The sides andth !
back posts reach above the head of the oc-
cupant. There are buckles ana straps on
the posts to pinlOn the arms. The central
rest to the back is furnished by a stout,
broad bar of wood at the top of which,
above the Sitter's head, is noticed a stout
stick, which Is braced from above Through |
the stick thus projecting forward from the
back bar and over the sitter'S head is a
fourteen inch hole directly above the head.
Through it passed the current which
was the agent of kemmler's death.
Through the hole is passed the
heavy wire stem of the electrode
that rests upon the head and through |
which the death current flows. Opposite |
the base of the spinal column another hole
IL the upright bar admits the current wire
10 the other pole and its electrOde The
electrodes are heavy yet flexible rubber
cups about four inches IN diameter and
having inside a coil of copper wire. The
heavy current wire is introduced into the |
rubber cup through the apex and Is con-
nected with the wire coiled around the in
side of the cup. A sponge holding a gill
OF water is fitted into the cup closely
against the wire coil. One electrode is
pressed down upon the head of the
criminal clinging somewhat because of eX-
hauStion of air. Thus where the electrode
is in position, there is practically only
gill OF water, natures best conduct
or between the wire coil and the
subjects flesh Fastened to the head rest
is pad heavily insulated, fashioned to fit
the curves of the neck and upper spinal
column. The criminals head is drawn
back hard and tight into this neck saddle
by the heavy leather mass that fits the
forehead. The arms are piniOned, the
wrists, the elbows, the legs are bound.
A stout broad strap circles the waist and
holds it fast. The electrOde for the head is
connected through the stick projecting
above the head the other through the
barred base of the spine and the occupant
circuit through which, when the current
has been switched on, flashes the force
that kills.
THE CHAMBER OF DEATH.
The room where Kemmler died is Sx2O
feet in size. A bath tub and sink in one
corner. The walls are white. The win
dows iron barred. look upon the lawn
toward the street 100 feet away towards
the east. On the other side of the room
are two iron latticed doors opening upon
the corridor: near one corner of the room
Is a low, broad and heavy door. 1t opens
into a short corridor leading to the solitary
chamber with its iron cage where
kemmler awaited DEATH and where
doubtless, others will do the same. Be
tween the windows the wall is faced with
matched boards to head the electrical ap-
paratus. The wires lead through one
window to force meter fastened against
the board facing. BY this swiftneSs of the
death current Is measured. On the
circuit is also a case of twenty-four incan-
descent lamps TO give tangible assurance
That the silent agent of death is throbbing
through the copper arteries The current
in the circuit Is reduced 10y a reductOr to
not burn out the lamps This circuit re-
huctor has no influence over the main cur
rent. The back of the chair is toward the
door where the criminal enters so that
walking obliquely from the door he takes
the seat without turning round. A button
on the wall when pressed sounds "A signal
I'm the dynamo room. the belts put on the
machine to do its terrible work and upon
signal ii may he at once turned off after ;
its work Is done.
The text of the statute after
prescribing the details of the manner
IL