The morning call., 1891-07-08
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THE ELECTRoCUTIoN.

Electrocution has now had n full and fair
trial, and while it is impossible TO say posi-
lively that it is more painless form Of
death than execution by hanging, the Scanty
accounts of the transaction Of Tuesday
morning show that we have yet something
to learn in the science of putting criminals
TO death.
The four criminals who were executed on
that occasion in New York did not know
that their last hour had come until an hour
and a half or an hour and three-quarters be-
fore the end. This is an Improvement on
the old practice, under which the day and
hoar of execution were known TO the crlmi-
nal weeks beforehand, and he died thou
sand deaths by anticipation. Humanity
revolted at such unnecessary cruelty; the
new plan is more in the right direction.
But the time consumed between the read
ing of the death warrant and the killing of
the condemned prisoners was too long. We
are Informed that the men were called to
breakfast at AIS O'Clock in the morning.
What does a man who has to die in an hour
want with breakfast? A little over half an
hour afterward the first of the prisoners
was seated in the chair. and the electrical
fluid poured into his body. The other three
followed at intervals Of about % minutes,
so that the last one to die-whO happened TO
be the Japanese-had contemplated the ap-
proach OF inevitable death an hour and
half before it came.
In France, the criminal who deserves
death rarely escapes, but his agony is not
aggravated by unnecessary suspense. He
never knows when he is TO be guiliOtined.
nor is he ever certain that his sentence may
not be commuied into life Imprisonment.
nv,n D. 4 l. 4
denly awakened and told that his hour has
come. He is hastily dressed by turkeys
furnished, il he desires it. with a glass of
brandy, aud is hurried to the platform Of
the gullotne. There. while a priest prays
with him, his limbs are made fast with
straps and tied 10 a plank; at a signal the
plank tips over. placing his head in the
groove. the knife falls and his head rolls
into the basket. The whole performance
from the time the prisoner is walked in his
bed to the severance of his head from his
body, rarely takes over y minutes.
Doctors are not agreed as to the exact mo-
ment when sensation ceases in any form of
| death. The features Of the faces of persons
who have been guillotiued have been oh
| served TO twitch for some moments after the
| head has been severed from the body. 1t is
supposed that these twitchings are mere
muscular contraclions, which have no con-
nection with the nerves of sensibility; no
one knows. In hanging, If the neck is
! broken, so as 10 sever the spinal cord, it is
supposed that sensibiity instantly ceases
! bat that again is mere conjecture. When
! death by hanging is the result OF aSphyXia.
or strangulation, prolonged struggle takes
| place to maintain respiration after the sup
ply of oxygen has been cut off from the
arteries. and this struggle is probably pain
| full until insensibility ensues. The ground
on which a current of electricity has been
substituted for the rope in executions in
! New \ ork is a theory that the electrical
current, when powerful enough, produces
instantaneous paralysis of the nerves Of
sensation; that is probably the case.
1t remains TO say a word of the exclusion
of reporters from the executions of Monday.
The law which declared that, thenceforth,
in NV York State, death should be inflicted
by electricity, also provided that no reporter
should be admitted to the execution. and
that no newspaper should comment thereon.
1t was pronounced unlawful to add any
thing TO the mere statement that the criminal
had been put to death on such day at such
a place. The Warden of Sing Sing obeyed
the law as far as he could. He denied ad-
mission TO representatives of the press.
But he could not prevent the New ork
papers from publishing such accounts OF the
event as reporters could CLEAN from physi-
clans and other privileged witnesses Of the
occurrence. The effect of the law has thu!
been to substitute scanty, garbled and prob,
ably erroneous reports OF the affair for thl
full, exact and accurate reports which
trained journalists would have furnished
had they been supplied with the usual facil
tiles. How this change mas enured to thu
advantage OF civilization or humanity 1t is
hard to see.