The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-08
A STORMY SCENE EXPECTED.

talked of killing men as he would of be-
heading chickens for his Sunday dinner,
could not forget as long as he lived. The
Jap had queer ideas about death. He be-
lieved that when he was taken TO that mys-
terious room beyond, be was to be tortured.
He had said, as well as he could that he
would fight before he would sit in the chair
The displacement Of the wires or Of the
harness, caused by the struggle, would
mean torture. The watchers anxiously
looked up at the pole on the roof to see the
red flag announce the death Of Jugiro.
1t was long in coming, and that fact
savored Of struggle it was over pres
emily. The law had been carried out TO the
letter, and the red flag went up. The Jap
died at 600 o'clock. The entire time con
sumed in the execution Of the four men was
hour and 2315 minutes.
MISTAKES GUARDED AGAINST.
The mistakes Of the electrical experts
which made the execution of Kemmler at
Auburn failure were carefully avoided
to-day. The causes of the accidents and
DELAYS at Auburn were known to the
warden at Sing Sing, and they had been
| anticipated in the arrangements for the
execution OF the four men who were to be
put to death during this week. The tested
voltage of the dynamos had been brought
up 10 5000, while the estimated voltage
which was turned into Kemmler's
body was only 750. The weakness of the
current at the Kemmler execution was
chargeable in part to the slipping of the
belts on the dynamos, and special precaution
bad been taken to avoid this to-day. The
dynamo used was a Westinghouse, coun-
terpart of the machine used at Auburn, but
it was supplemented by small dynamo, in
| tended to augment the current. Arrange
ment to the apparatus for testing the
strength of the current was clumsy at Au-
burn, so imperfect that through the neglect
of one Of the electricians the incandescent
| lamps used to test the voltage were left
burning, aud absorbed the greater part Of
the current when it was turned into the
body of the condemned man. Here, at
Sing Sing, the switch controlling the cleo
trio current was SO arranged that the mo-
| ton that turned the current into the wire
running to the execution chair turned it
| away from the incandescent lights and other
devices for measuring its strength.
STORY OF a WITNESS.
One Of the witnesses briefly tells the
story of the execution, as follows: About
4 o'clock the witnesses and jurors were let
into the death chamber. The experts had
previously examined everything, and said
they were satisfied that the machinery of
death would work successfully. AT 4 o'clock
| Slooum walked into the death room, accom-
phhlCQ OI IdbueE OAt6uGls ne be6ulbu u
be making tremendous effort to keep his
composure. He bad received Father
Creedens last offices aud had declared him.
self ready to die. He was then firmly
strapped into the chair and the death cur
| rent applied. Death was instant. There
was sudden contraction of the nerves and
then all was over.
sMILER's END.
Smiler followed next. Rev. Mr. Edger-
ton cheered him up. Before Smier had
time to think he was strapped into the chair,
and in an instant later a current of elec-
tricity was flashed through him that sent
him into eternity.
The next to follow was Wood, the negro.
He had been worked up to a state Of relig-
ious enthusiasm, and it was while in that
frame of mind that he was fastened into the
chair and killed by the fatal shock.
Jugiro was stubborn to the last. There
was the usual furious look on his face He
was closely guarded, and short work was
made of him.
There was no apparent hitch in the four
executions, and they were pronounced
success.
APPEARED TO BE PAINLESS.
The death of the four men appeared to an
observer to be painless. Death came like
flash. 1t was one awful shock and then
oblivion. The doctors took charge of the
four bodies Immediately after death aud
began an autopsy to discover as far as DOS.
sible how each had been killed and the pre-
else effect produced. The witnesses Of the
execution were besieged by reporters as
soon as they made their appearance from
the prison. All Of them refused to say any
thing, however, except that the execution
had passed off without any hitch and had
been success from scientific standpoint
| Warden Brown had laid a strict injunction
| of secrecy upon them all. and had evidently
made such an impression on their minds
that they were 10th to talk.
GETTING THE NEWS.
Warden Brown had declined to permit
representatives of the press associations to
have access to the execution chamber, either
as witnesses or as assistants, and it was
known several days before the execution
took place that the accounts Of it which
might be published must be obtained from
the twelve citizens who had been invited to
be present. il they could be persuaded to
talk about it. Extensive preparations had
been made to handle the news
that could be obtained as rapidly as posi-
BILE. Near the place where the temporary
execution room had been built, was q trestle
running above q series Of lime kilns. Ad-
Joining this as a small frame building Of
two rooms. This had been leased by the
prison people to the lime company, which
sublet it for the occasion of
the execution to the Representatives
of the press. Several wires had been strung
to it, and operators had sat with their
fingers on the keys from miduight Of Sun
day waiting for the signal to send the news
that the executions had taken place. The
Western Union Telegraph Company had
put extra operators in its Office at the rail-
road station, not far down the track, to
handle the reports of the special corre-
spondents.
ANOTHER WITNESS TALKS.
One of the witnesses of the electrocutions,
whose name for obvious reasons cannot be
printed, gave the following account of the
occurrences in the death chamber: "When
the witnesses had gathered in the chamber
some of them appeared very nervous
and all showed signs of the great
strain on their sensibilities. Slocum
had been selected as the first victim, and as
soon as the good priests had finished their
supplications he said he was ready, and
stepped out of bis cell with alacrity. The
walk to death began. Following the warden
and his deputy came Slooum between two
priests who held aloft in front OF him
crucifx at which he steadfastly gazed.
Two keeper deputies brought up the rear of
the fateful procession. Slowly the heavy
doors swung back, aud, with solemn tread
and mien, the little procession walked into
the room, where the silence Of death pre-
vailed.
FACE TO FACE WITH DEATH.
"They had but a few steps to take. The