Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-05
WILL DIE IN PAIRS.
Plans of Warden Brown for the
Four Executions at Sing Sing.
COULD NOT KILL ALL AT ONCE,
For the Jury and Witnesses Haven't Strong
Enough Nerves.
CHANCES FOR A BUNGIlE ARE SLIGHT
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPATCH.]


ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPATCH.1
NEW YORK, July 4-Within the week
which begins at midnight tomorrow at
tempts will be made at Sing Sing to kill
three and probably four murderers by cleo
tricity. 1t is reasonably certain that the
last struggle against the electric death law
has been made, and this week the civilized
world will again hold its breath in expecta-
tion of repetition of the horror which ac-
companied the execution. of the death
penalty in the case Of William Kemmler at
Auburn last August.
There is vast amount of speculation in
Sing Sing and around the prison as to the
day and hour of the executions, and their
order. Warden Brown has evidently de-
cided upon these matters, for he has issued
his invitations, but the law will not permit
him to let his decision become public. It
is pretty well known that he will not delay
the executions until late in the week, for
he has expressed himself as anxious to have
them off his hands. 1t is thought also that
| they will take place early in the day.
Will Probably Kill Them in Paris.
A question of gruesome interest which
has much aroused the good people of Sing
Sing is the order and rapidity with which
the four murderers are to be ''touched of, !"
as the phrase is around the prison and in
town. Will MI. Brown have them killed
one at time with intervals of half day
or a day between, sufficient to perform the
autopsy of each and get his remains buried
al Lafo &,,r, Af fhn ~
| Or will the warden bring out two at time,
and as soon as No. is killed clap No. 2
into the chair and have him killed while
| the doctors are cutting up No. 1? Or will
he get rid of the entire lot at once, one
| after another?
Warden Brown is dumb when these ques-
| tions are asked. 1t is interesting to know
that the apparatus at Sing Sing is said to be
capable of killing 25 men an hour if worked
to the best possible advantage. The fact
that only two collins are stored in the
autopsy room adjoining the death chamber
! has given color to a report which Is prev
alent in Sing Sing to the effect that War
den Brown is going to execute the murder
ers two at time. 1t is said that Mr. Brown
could not secure scientific men and wit
nesses willing to undergo the strain of four
executions in one day, and that he himself
was unwilling to undertake such a job.
Therefore it is said that he will execute the
men in pairs, several days apart, the wit
nesses to be about the same for each pair.
The Power of the Dynamo.
It is true, as Warden Brown says, that
the Auburn horror taught lessons for the
future, but it is also true that the dynamo
that will be used in these executions is of
the same make and power as the one that
failed to supply electricity at Auburn, and
that there have been no improvements of
Importance made in the chair or other ap-
paratus since the Kemmler slaughter. STILL
Mr.. Brown is very confident that this time
there will be no trouble of any sort, and of
course it is probable that the second expert
ment in execution by lightning may prove
successful For however viewed the COM
ing executions are essentially experiments
The very fact that Kemmler's execution
proved SO horrifying failure intensifes the
experimental nature of this second test of
electricity as public executioner.
There are several things attendant upon
the coming execution which augur better re-
suits than at the slaughter at Auburn. In
the first place the scientific men and cleo
tricians who witnessed the Kemmler eXper-
iment have learned valuable lessons, which
they will apply in the second experiment
Particularly have they taken heed of the
fact that
Kemmler Apparently Came to Life
after an exposure to the current of a dura-
tion which was thought at the time to be
more than ample to kill him. 1t is an
nounced authoritatively that there will be
no such horrifying mistake this time. In
the second place there will be no such bun
Cling arrangements and no such mystery
about these executions as there was about
that of Kemmler. Warden Dunston, of
Auburn, had his switch board and meters IN
another than the execution room, and kept
the details of the intensity and volume of
the current from the knowledge of the sci
entifc menpresent.
To this lay no one knows definitely the
volume and intensity of the electric current
which was turned into Kemmler's death
chair 1t was alleged afterward that the
electric lamps which were attached to the
circuit by switch for testing purposes
were not shut off before the death switch
was thrown, and that they absorbed a large
volume of the electricity intended for exc
cution purposes. -aFhe warden, himself,
asserted afterward that he did not know the
measure of the electric current which
scorched and shocked Kemmler to death.
Everything Will Be in Sight.
Warden Brown is not taking any chances.
There will be no mystery about his execu-
tions so far, at least, as the scientific men
present are concerned. His switchboard
and meters are in the execution room, where
the scientific men will examine them before
the current is turned into the chair. Valu-
able scientific data will probably be one re-
suit of these executions, and if the execu-
tions result second time horribly perhaps
the blame will be placed definitely.
If there proves to be anything wrong with
the apparatus at Sing Sing, it will not be
because of lack of attention. 1t was all up
months ago for the execution of some
of these same men before their cases
were stayed last time. Electrician F. F.
Davis at that time put the apparatus in
working order and tested it. 1t has been
frequently tested since In September
COW was killed instantly by it, and it has
often been used and examined since 1t is
believed to be in perfect order.
The Chamber of Death.
The chamber of death at Sing Sing is
temporary frame structure which has been
built inside the prison yard east of the
brick building recently put up as prison
for the solitary confinement of those con-
demned to death. Both the death chamber |
and the condemned prison. as the new
brick building is called, were built by Cap !