Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-07-07


II was almost exactly the same pattern as the
chair in which Kemmler was executed-a plain
wooden chair, with perforated wood seat, the
back having slight incline Near the top of
the chair back was a beveled cushion of rub
Der for the prisoners head and neck to rest
against Above this extended wooden figure
four" the long arm of which was clamped with
two owooden act screws to the back of the chair In
front of the chair extended a foot rest to which
the legs ofsthe prisoner were to be bound. This
was the only important particular in which the
chair differed from the Kemmler chair.
kemmler's legs were separated and fastened to
the front legs of the chair in which he sat-
The chair was placed on q rubber mat to insu-
late it. Behind the chair, built against a par
tition wall which divided the building into two
apartments was a closet opening at the top,
about seven feet high. In this closet the
switchboard. which was to be used in turning
the current into the condemned man.
THE EXEcUTroSER WAITING.
Before the entrance Of the witnesses the exc
cutioner had entered this closet from the other
room and sat waiting for the signal from the
warden to turn the switch. Who he was is not
known and will not be known aathoritatively.
1t is generally supposed that the executloner
was convict from the prison detailed for the
duty. On the right Of the witnesses they
entered was the massive iron door which closed
the passage leading into the prison for the con-
demned. 1t was almost massive and inn
penetrating as the brick walls about it, and as
lmpervlous to sound. Seated in their cells
with only the walls and the iron door between
them and the engine of death, the condemned
men heard nothing of the busy preparations
going on in the execution chamber. They
knew that their last minutes were being
measured of, for their spiritual advisers had
been with them some hours giving them such
consolation as they could.
There WAS no indication outside the prison
walls that active rafip or the a
were going on within The warden had not
slept all night nor had he any sleep the night
before. Late ut night he had told the witnesses
to go to bed In rooms assigned to them. They
would be called, he said when the time for the
execution arrived. None of them knew what
the hour would be, but all Of them supposed
that 1t would be soon after daybreak. 1t was
near midnight when most of them went to their
rooms to get little sleep. while the warden sat
down in his Office and waited tor any legal sum-
mons which might delay the execution of the
condemned men.
UP EARLY FOR BREAKFAST.
At 2:30 o'clock the grinding of coffee in the
warden's kitchen indicated the preparation of
breakfast for the wardens guests, but this sign
of life was quickly concealed from the watchers
without and the shutters of the dining room
windows were tightly fastened. All of the
shutters of the other rooms were closed SO that
no evidence of the time when the witnesses
SuOulu Rdtne< III the WHTuen pdrlOE pTeLml-
nary to the execution should be given.
Shortly after 3 O clock the attorney for Wood,
Lawyer Haire, left the warden after fruitless
hour spent in trying to convince him that the
petition which he had filed in the federal court
should act as a stay of execution. Deputy At
torney General Hogan, who had sat up with
the warden, decided the disputed legal ques-
ton for him, and the condemned mans 5 last
hope was extinguished when. shortly after 3
O'Clock, the warden lay down on a couch in his
parlor to get little rest. Outside the prison
walls the group Of newspaper reporters which
had watched all through the night remained on
guard. The guards paced slowly up and down
the roadway. At $50 o'clock the lights in the
town and the lights in front Of the warden's
house went out suddenly. 1t was half hour
before the usual time for extinguishing these
lights, and the fact that they had gone out in
dicated that the power used in generating the
electric current for them WAS to be used
in operating the dynamos attached to the exc
cution apparatus. few minutes later the
whirr OF the dynamo sounded through the still
morning air. 1t was o'clock and the warden
had risen from his couch end sent one of his
assistants to rap softly on the doors of the
sleeping rooms upstairs to waken the witnesses.
Some Of them had retired halt dressed and they
were quickly down stairs. The two priests and
the prison chaplain had been summoned more
than an hour before, and after drinking a cup
of prison coffee had gone down to the cells of
the condemned men.
NOTIFYING THE PRISONERS.
The prisoners had been awake most of the
night. When the warden visited them at mid
night all of them were wide awake and evil
IDENTIFY expecting the end to come soon. They
knew that kemmler had been killed on the
second morning and they did not believe that
their time would be delayed much longer
There had been no increase Of the guard. The
regular watchers. Partridge and Baxter. had
remained with them from o clock last night
Most Of the men were awake when shortly be-
fore 4 o'clock the priests and chaplain ap-
peared. Chaplain Edgerton spoke few words
of comfort to Jugigo when he told him that the
end was near, but the Jap did not receive them
in a grateful spirit and the chaplain passed on
to Smilers cell. while the two priests busted
themselves respectively with Slocum and Wood.
The condemned men took very calmly the an
nouncement that the sentence was about to be
executed. They were dressed when the chap
lain and the priests entered. Their clothing
was much alike-a suit of dark diagonal, white
shirt and collar and black tie.
The witnesses distributed themselves about
the chamber. The electrician was in charge of
the apparatus for measuring the current which
was fastened to the side of the closet opposite
the entrance to the cell room. 1t consisted of
volt meter. resistance coil and a row of
twenty incandescent lamps, each measuring
100 volts. heavy switchboard formed the
connection between the wires from the dynamo
room at the other end of the prison grounds
and the wires in the executioner's closet ad-
joining. A push button communicated with
the signal bell in the dynamo room
When the witnesses had ranged themselves
about the room the electrician touched this
button once. The engineer responded to the
signal and started the dynamos. They had
been tested up to 5000 volts during the morn
ing. When the current had been turned on the
electrician threw the switch which turned it into
the row of lamps sabove his head. They burst into
a glow Of light that riyaled the daylight shin
ing through the canvass covering of the win
dows about the sides Of the improyised execu-
ton room.
TIME OF THE EXECUTION.
The approximate time of the turning ON the
current in each case was Slocum, 440; Smiler,
$40; Wood, $50; Jugigo, sos.
The prisoners had received some intimation
beforehand that the executions were to take
place this morning, and they were prepared for
them. They went to execution bravely and
met their fate without a struggle. They offered
no resistance, but rather assisted the keepers
when they we're bound down in the chair.
THE WITNESSES.
No one knew just all who were the legal wit
nesses, but this ia the imperfect list: DR.. South
wick, Buffalo; DIR. Daniels, Buffalo; DR.. Carlos
F. Mcdonald, state board of lunacy, New York;
DR.. Alphonse ID. Rockwell, New York; DR..
Samnel B. Warden, Albany; DR.. Franklin
Townsend, Auburn; DR.. Barker Of the local
prison staff; DIR. Harambarber, Prof. L. H.
Landy, New York; Father Hogan, the Rev.
John B. Creedeu, Deputy Attorney General
HOGAN r Davia electrician. and Chaa