Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-08-14
Ccpntinusd nom sixth page,

not q quarter OF an inch variation In
the position ofany part Of the frame.
The.quiet little group around the chair
grew business like.
THEY WERE MISTAKEN.
"He's dead,n said DR.. Spitzka calmly.
"Oh, he's dead ~ re-echoed DIR. Melon
aid with firm confidence. The rest Of
the witnesses nodded their acquies-
cence. There was no question in the
mind Of any one but that the stiff, up
right object before them was lifeless.
This was the program, this the newt
able effect. The next question was:
What was to be done with the body?
DIR. Spitzka stepped forward and called
attention to the appearance OF the nose,
which he said had an undoubted post
mortem color. No one disputed this.
DIR. Spitzka turned around In a busi-
ness-iike way and pointing TO the har-
ness, said: hOh, undo that. Now the
body can be taken to the hos
pital.n The warden replied that he
could not let any Of the witnesses go
until he had their certificates. All of
this conversation took but minute.
DIR. Batch was bending over the body,
looking at the exposed skin. Sudden
ly he cried out sharply:
"Dr. Mcdonald, see that rupture
In O moment DIR. Spitzka and DIR.
Mcdonald had bent over and looked
where DIR. Batch was pointing, at lit
tie red spot at the hand that rested on
the right arm Of the chair. The index
finger Of the hand had curved back
ward as the fiexor muscles contracted,
and had scraped 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 rupture was
dropping blood. "Turn on fhe current
instantly.
1.-THE MAN Is NOT DEAD"
cried DR.. Spitzka faces grew white and
forms fell back from the chair. War
den Durston sprang to the doorway and
cried: "Turn on the current" But the
current could not be turned on. When
the signal to stop had come, the opera
tor had pressed the little button which
gave the sign to the engineer to stop
the dynamo.
HORRIBLE SCENE.
The dynamo was almost at q stand
still and the volt meter registered an al
most impreceptible current. The oper-
ator sprang to the button and gave a
sharp quick signal. There was 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 fhorror-stricken witnesses stood
Relplessly, all eyes fixed on the chair
Reminders lips began to drip spittle
and In q moment more his chest NOV
ed, and from his mouth came q heavy
stertorous sound, quickening and in
creasing with every respiration-if res
piratiOn 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 fore
ed itself past the tightly closed lips
sounded through the still chamber with
gastly distinctness. Some of the wit
nesses turned away from the sight.
One of them lay down faint and sick.
Ittakes long, long time to tell the
story. Itseemed long time reaching
q climax. In reality there were but Il
seconds in the interval which elapsed
between the moment when the frs
sound issued from Kemmler's lips un
til the response to the signal came from
the dynamo room. 1t came with the
same suddeness that had marked tht
first shock which passed through
Kemmler's body. The sound which
had horrified the listeners about the
chair was cut off sharply as the body
once more became rigid. The slim,
ooze still dropped from the mouth ant
ran slowly in three lines down tn,
beard and onto the gray vest. Twic
there were twitchings of the body q
the electricians in the next room threw
the current on and of. There was t,
be
NO MISTAKE THIS TIME
About the killing. The dynamo. wa
run up to its highest speed and agail
the full current of 1000 volts wa
sent through the body in the chair
How long It was kept in action no on,
knows. To the excited group of mel
about the chair it seemed an intermin
able time. For the men who stood Il
front of the volt-meter In the adj0in
ing room and threw the switch leve
over backward and forward time ha
no measurement. DIR. Daniel, VIII
looked at his watch excitedly, and VIII
thought he had an approximate idea Q
the time at least, said it was four and
half minutes in all. The warden's az
sistant who stood over the dynam
said that on the second signal the ma
chinery was run only three and hal
minutes.
TT WILL NEVER BE KNOWN
With any degree of accuracy what tn
space of time was. No one was anx
ious to give the signal to stop. A
dreaded the responsibility of offering t
the man q chance to revive or to Civ
again at least those appearances of re
turning animation which had startle'
and sickened the witnesses few mir
utes before. AS the anxious grou
stood silently watching the body, SUD
denly there arose from 1t a white vapo
bearing with it pungent and sicken
ing odOr.
THE BODY WAS BURNING.
Again there were cries to stop tn
current and again the warden spran
to the door and gave the order to hi
assistants. The current stopped an
again there was the relaxation of th
body. No doubt this time that tn
current had done its work-if not vel
at least completely. DIR. Fell, VIII
stood at the side of the special corre'
pondent of the United Press, turne,
and said: "Well, there Is no dout
Z -. n. -. ,,s