Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1891-07-10
TESTIMONY OF WITNESSES.

All Agree That the Electrocutions Were
a'H'' Unqualified Successes.
SING SING, N. Y, July s.-Two of the
witnesses to the execution who refused
to give their names were interviewed
NY the United Press correspondent
before the autopsy. They said that all
the electrocutions were completely sue
cessful and without flaw. None of the
men struggled or resisted when placed
in the chair. Instead of doing SO they
assisted the deputy warden in arrang-
ing the straps us Kemmler did at Au-
burn. The japanese, who, it was
thought would be hard to handle, was
perfectly docile. All of the men were
Killed on the First Contact.
The positive electrode was applied, as in
the kemmler case to the top of the head
auG the negative to the leg.
DR.. Alphonso D. Rockwell, the man
who devised the electrode and who was
one of the three commissioners ap-
pointed to supervise the electrocution,
was the first Of the experts to emerge
from the prison. DR.. Rockwell hurried
to the depot to catch an early train to
New York. He said: I'VE are pledged
to secrecy, but do not think l am vio-
latiug that pledge in saying that all
four executions were unqualified sue
cesses. The men all died painlessly and
without a struggle. Further than this
l cannot speak. -"
E. A. Brown, purchasing agent of the
state prison, said that there was no
doubt that the electrocutions were
Absolutely Painless
THE horse killed in the final test of the
machinery, he said. was dead before
it fell. Its eye balls were as natural as
IN life after death, and this was the con-
dltlon OF the men put to death. Each
walked calmly to death, and there was
not Il struggle or hitch at any stage of
the proceedings. When the current was
turned into Il mans body he died so
quickly that it was difficult to realize
that death had occurred"
ReV. DR.. Law, chaplain of the Tombs,
New York, who was the assistant of the
prison chaplain and witness, said to a
United Press reporter at the station. II
was fully convinced that the killing of
murdcrers by electricity was failure,
but l am now
Convinced 1t Is a Success.
Everyone Of the men went to the chair
calmly and died easily and without
pain or contortio1. Death was instant
aneous. am bound to secrecy and can
say no more"
George Edgar Oliver, of Albany, a
witness, when asked by the reporter if
the execution was a success, nodded as
sent. He WAS asked if DR.. Laws state
ment concerning the quiet manner of
the victims and their instantaneous
deaths were true, and he said that they
were. So far as he could Judge as a
layman, the executions were success" :"
Sing Sing Deserted.
SING SING, N. Y, July S.-Sing Sing
is deserted. Almost all of the witnesses
to the execution have gone to their
homes and the horde of newspaper men
that decorated the roadway in front of
the prison for twenty-four hours has
gone away. The local interest in the
executions, never very strong, has died
out almost entirely. The guard about
the prison has been removed and affairs
Lave resumed their customary course.
Three Lost Children Found.
PEORIA, Ills., July S.-The boys who
wandered away from their homes in
Averyville and were lost last Monday
We're found Wednesday nearly dead in
swamp. So desperate had they become
in their hunger that they had been eat
ing mud. 1t is feared that the exposure
and lack Of food NAV vet result fatally.
Texas Steers for North Dak"t
DICKINSON, N. D., July ga tls'ove
Of 5000 Texas 2 year-old steers, lave
been brought here for one compans and
there are 1O, 900 more on the trail for
stockmen ct this place, The droves
month have, gained every day, Z days