Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-07
administered for not less than fifteen to twenty

\
Sheriff Oliver A. jenkins Of Erie county was
severe in bis condemnation Of the experiment
of killing human being by electricity, He
| describes the revival of kemmler and his sec
! ond dose Of electricity thus:
After the current had been circulating
! through the body for eighteen seconds Dr.
| Spitzka pronounced the man dead and the cur
/ rent was turned off. The eiectrode on the
head WAS loosened and every one was convinced
| that kemmier was dead The semi-circuiar
| group of men stood motionless for a minute or
| two and were on the point OF dispensing, when
| a murmur OF horror arose and every eve was
! again fixed on the murderer's face. Then we
saw a horrible sight. First, the chest rose and
| fell labOriously. though the condemned man
was struggling for breath. The struggle rapidly
! grew stronger and became convulsive The
| entire body from the waist up shook and trem-
| bled violently. spechs of foam appeared on
the lips and were followed by a stream of
saliva that ran over the strap on the chin and
down on the tortured victims shirt. Then
came gurgling sound and labored raising
| OF the shoulders. All this took place in a very
short time and was SO disgusting spectacle
that many OF the witnesses turned their heads
away
The electrode was rapidly put in place
again on the murderers head, and little cry
went up to turn on the current again. This
was done, not once. but several times as could
De seen by the shocks that came at the body
vlcIously and struck it so hard as to make it
culver. With these shocks came a smell Of
burning hair and flesh that filled the room and
added greatly to the horror of the scene. 1t
was clear that the head of the poor wretch was
being scorched and the scalp burned
AS If the ghastliness Of the spectacle was
not enough the several shocks made the body
quiyer like mass of jelly that is shaken The
blows appeared to be hard enough to kill any
living thing, and under them all action of the
body ceased, the muscles relaxed and there
| could be no longer any doubt that death had
mercifully come.
warden Durston removed the head straps
while Nleling took off the other bandages, leav-
ing the body to settle down IN the death chair
like a bundle of old Clothes
EDISON ISN'T SURPRISED.
81 have read the account of the execution"
said Thomas A. Edison last night, land while
it is to be hoped that later advices will not
prove so terrible, see no reason to doubt that
the account 1 read was essentially correct.
The fault lies wholly with the doctors.
Theoretically they are right. no doubt The
nerve center of the human system lies
in the base of the skull. But practically
they are all at sea. Here we nave
had something like thirty perfect examples
Of instantaneous death by electricity
in the accidents that have happened in and
around New York. How was the electricity
applied In these cases? Never to the head. OF
| what use has been the death of these thirty
| through the hand. In no case was the strength
of the current nearly half what was to have
been passed through Reminders skull. The
reason why contact by hand is so much more
fatal than through the head is that electricity
travels through the water i'll the human Dody
The hair of the head is a nome CONDUCTOR You
see that when you comb your head with a
rubber comb. Anything that electricity attracts
Is nOn-conductOr. The bones are also
non-conductors, and in electrical executions
hot Of h. ,l...ll
have to be penetrated The Eueninq Sun
says that Reminders skin was burned at the
back of the neck. This statement proves he
got only a very small part of the current Had
he received the whole 1900 volts into his body
it would have burned him up. testified as to
the resistance OF the various parts of the BODY
during the Westinghouse litigation in New York
last spring. L had experimental upon ], 100
people and knew whereof spoke. l said them
as say now, that the true way to execute a
criminal Is to send the current through his
body from one arm of the death chair to the
other. The arms, hands and fingers are full
OF blood, which II good conductor of cleo
trleity. Let the hands be properly cleansed
and mOistened, and the charge would pass
through the heart. causing instant DEATH 1t is
true that l recommended the electrical ma
chlnery used at the execution. ] see no reason
to find fault with the machinery. / have no
doubt that the electrical experts who assisted
at the execution handled the machinery in the
lies wholly i'll the application of the current to
the victim S body, the working out ola doctors
theory In the face of the plain demonstrations
OF experience"
REPORT OF THE AUTOPSY.
The autopsy was held three hours after death
under the supervision of Drs. Charles F. Mac
donald. Z. c. Spitzka aud George f. Shrady of
New York, and performed by DR.. ". T. Jen-
kins of New York, assisted by DIR. Clayton NJ
Daniels of Buffalo, n. Y. Dr. Shrady gave out
the following as the result of the autopsy SO
far as IN form, for public use: Body fairly
well nourished. Rigor mortis marked partic-
ularly i'll the muscles OF the jaw, neck and
thOrax, and gradually extending from above
downward, involving the feet and the
legs last. The post-mortem hyperstas is
| marked over lower portion of body and extend
ing up as far as the antenor axIllary line also
on the pendant surface OF the face OF the upper
and lower eXtremities. The upper extremities
are partly hexed and rotated outward the nails
showing post-mortem lividity. There was a
| seminal discharge, which. on examination, was
found to contain a large number of dead
spermataZoa- There was a marked discolora-
ton of the forehead about an inch in width,
corresponding with the position of the strap
beginning at the hair line on the left side and
extending TO the hair line on the right side A
corresponding diScoloration from the pressure
OF the chin strap was also noted. There
was an oval depression of the scalp upon the
vertex beginning at the anterior hair line
and measuring four inches in its long and
three and half inches in its short diane. Ter
Anterior to the pGsteriar portion of the depres-
sion and in the immediate line there was a
| burn one and half inches in length and half
| an inch in width superficial in character
| slightly scorching the hair and crescentc in
shape. On the small of the back, correspond
ing to the level of the fourth sacral vertebra
below and second above, four and one-half
inches III vertical diane ter and four and one-half
! inches i'll transverse diameter, was burn pre-
| senting four concentric zones of which the
Outermost had pale area, corresponding to
| that of the rubber cup of the electrode and
| one-quarter OF all inch in diameter.
Then follows partial and complete vessica-
\ ton, partial below and complete above, about
an inch IN diameter above and one-third of an
/ inch below.
| Then follows transition zone, which is in
its upper third II complete eschar. black in ap-
pearance, and its lower part showed dessica-
ton and was OF greenish-brown color. An
/ internal zone showed a number Of vesicIes.
! chiefly perlpheral. and below the center black
! eschar half an inch i'll its vertical and FIVE
| eighths of an inch in its transverse diameter.
/ Above Is a tongue-shaped pale area, with a
| lateral projection to the left Of the median
! line, extending about two inches, and an upper
! projection In the dorsal furrow, which is more
! sharply pointed. and which on its periphery
| there was redding quarter, with here and
| there vessication. In addition the back showed
a number of depressions produced by the folds
! OF the shirt and suspenders as are commonly
| found in dead bodies lying on the back
| On incising the skin over the sternum the
blood which escaped was unusually dark and