The times., 1890-08-08
KEMMLER'S FATE.
The Day of His Doom Rapidly
Approaching.
HE WILL HAVE A NOVEL EMINENOE


The First Man I'm the World to Die by a
Legal Stroke of MISUNDERSTANDING
That 1t May BE Horrible Scene, and
Mighty Little Prospect of Further POST
ponement-His Long Fight Against
Suffering Justice and Bearing in the
Face of Death.
AUBURN, N. Y, Aug. q William
Kemmler the first criminal in the world
to suffer the legal punishment of death by
electricity, will be killed at the state pris-
on here, probably on Tuesday, at an hour
which is likely to be fixed either just be-
fore sunrise or just after sunset. Kemm-
Ter will be taken out of his stone cage and
into dimly lighted room, where he will
see nothing but big oak chair, with
straps and buckles on it, and something
aver ascore of men around looking intent
ly at the chair and at him.
May Burn and Sixz1e.
Within less time than it takes to tell
Kemmler will be tightly bound in the
chair, and there, while the people in the
room hold their breath, current of cleo
tricity, 1000 volts strong, will rush
through the mans body, stiffening it
with one great shudder. 1t will be hor-
rid scene. Kemmler has been thinkingal
about it for fourteen months. Perhaps
the body will burn and sizzle, too; no one
can tell. Then the body will be un-
strapped, and just as quickly as they can
the surgeons will get at it with their
knives and saws.
His Desperate Struggle for Life.
1t has been such hard struggle to exc
cute the sentence of the law upon Kemm-
Ter that some people yet believe he will
cheat the executioner. There is talk now
that an effort will be made to obtain n
communication Of sentence on the ground
that he has already suffered thousand
deaths in the delays attendant upon his
execution. 1t is probable that such an eff
fort may be made, but there is no likeli-
hood of Kemmler's sentence being com.
muted. Whatever delays there were
about his execution were caused by the
struggle that he or his friends made for
his life.
No Stone Was Left Unturned.
No murderer in the country ever had
such a fight made for him as has Kemm-
Ter. His case has gone through all the in
termediate steps up to the court of ap-
peals twice Then at the last moment he
was dramatically rescued from death by
"the people of the United States" in the
shape of the habeas corpus of the United
States supreme court. Then even the leg
islature of the state was asked to inter-
vene in the shape of an act abolish ing
capital punishment; but everything
failed.
One Chance i'm the Dynamo.
The only imaginable pretext might be
the fact frequently referred to that the
electrical dynamo which will kill Kemm-
Ter was obtained by fraud from the West
inghouse company by Harold p. Brown.
The dynamo to be used was not purchased
directly from the Westinghouse people,
but through third party, and probably
the Westinghouse people would not have
sold it knowingly for its real purpose.
The company might, therefore, have an
action against somebody for fraud. Good
lawyers say, however, no judge would in
terfere by injunction to prevent the use of
the dynamo, as the company has ample
remedy at law for whatever damages it
may have sustained.
Durston breads His Duty.
There is no doubt that Warden Durston
would only be too glad to have the courts
take from him the duty of killing Kemm-
Ter, but Warden Durston would not be
glad IL this duty was removed by Kemm-
ler's suicide. There is little doubt now
that Kemmler is in such condition Of
mind and body that he would COM
NIT suicide If he could, and the
strict watch that has been kept
upon him for so long is now kept more
vigilantly than ever. Up to within q
month Kemmler was we'll and strong in
every way. and seemed to have no fear of
death. The tremendous conceit and stu
pidity which stood him in such good stead
at the time last set for his execution have
now nearly faded away. Kemmler is still
mentally dull but he is awakened to the
fear of death now, and he was not be-
fore.
A Mighty Good Man to XIII.
The crime that Kemmler committed
was as fendish n one as could be i'm
agined. He hacked his wife into a half
dozen pieces. He is an ugly, cowardly
savage and dull minded brute. 1t is true
that his long confinement has re-
fined and softened him some
what as in the case of all
condemned murders, and it is:also true that
the feeling his crime at first aroused is
softened into natural pity and sympathy
for fellow creature who after long,
stubborn fight, has now lost his last hope,
and sees death drawing near to him, slow
ly, but with inexorable certainty.
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