Daily Kennebec journal., 1891-07-13

WiilAam murphy OF 9s. Louis eusvivss
IN Eisctiic Shock Of 5000 volts.

OF. l<OUl9s JNiy IL NAAh SAeApoJ
Of this city received an electric shock o'
l 400 volts more than vas used in the SIM
Sing executions, suffered indescribaole tor.
ment. was pronounced dead, and has sufn
ciently recovered {, tell the story OF bill
agony.
Murphy is q hneman, employed BY ths
Municipal Electric Light & Power Com
pany, and lives as "A South Seventeenth
street. He 10 about 80 years old. He il
= man Of good education and an experienced
electrician.
About two months ago Murphy vas re.
pairing . wire at the corner Of Sixth and
Locust streets whsn in some manner his
body formed the connection between the
ground and overhead wires. The current
from 235 dynamo machines was sufgins
through the wire at the time, an amount
equal to 5000 volts and he received the full
force Of it. Murphy dropped like = sho,
aDd faint order Of burning flesh was per-
ceptible. Not muscle quivered a. he lay
on the ground and doctor who examined
him said at oLce that his life was extinct.
Suddenly, after the ambulance hsd be en-
called to carry the body to the morgue,
Murphy's lips opened. and faint sigh.
which soon became q moan OF agony. Issued
from between his teeth. Then his eyelids
quivered, and the rigid features which had
been drawn into hard, set lines Of suffering
began slowly to relax. Next his eyes
opened. and his chest s~elled and contrac-
ted with the regular breath which was
coming and going in his lungs.
He raised his hand, on which WAS red
shot where the flesh had been entirely burned
away, and opening vide his mouth took a
lorg breath. In S moment more he had
strua gled to his fee. and stood quivering in
every limb, ard pre- ssed his hand to his head.
After short time he was taken home,
and il was long time before he recovered
fro m the shock which his system had re-
ceived. 81 can hardly describe the sensa-
tons experienced" he said this morning.
II know THE. that in the shock that l re-
ceiyed I suffered q Thousand deaths l
would rather die this minute than to under
go the agony again. Agony it wss-worse
than agony. 1t was abe torment of hell.
felt Is if million Yedhot pinchers were
tearing away on my Thousands of nerves,
pulling them into shreds.
"The most intense pain man suffers
from disease is probably acute neuralgia.
The pain from the shock received was .
million times worse than neuralgia, and
theae was not single spot on my body
which wac free from it. My head fel, as
il big charge of dynamite had been ex-
ploded in the centre of my brain.
Every organ in my body felt IS II it
was being torn by hundreds of pointed in
struments. l suppose the shock lasted for
less than second, but it seemed to me that
| was praying for death to come for hours
before the pain finally left me. When
consciousness thought WAS in
another world.
ITO nv dszed mind it did not seem pos
sible that man could suffer such absolute
agony and survive. Then | WAS afraid
that was going to receive another shock,
and staggered to my feet in order to get
away from the spot. The burn on my arm
has not healed yet"
Murthy rolled up his sleeves, and there
upon his arm, about half way between wrist
flesh had healed once, but the wound had
opened afresh and sill gives him pain. 'ln
view Of your experience with 5000 volis OF
what do you think Of the execu-
tion of the four murrerers at Sing Sipg!"
why, it was simply dsmnable,' taid
Murphy. grimly. Every one Of those men
as l suffered; each went through
the same, perhaps greater, torment 1t was
the perfection Of cruelty. All the assertions
Of the witnesses to the contrary will not
make me believe that these men did q
painless death. Why, common sense is ali
against it. received severe shock Of
5000 volts. The register at the time showed
the fac. beyond doubt. l only felt the
shock for fractional part of q second, and
then | WAS unconscious--practicall dead.
"Suppose another 5000 volts had been
sent into my body and kept surging through
it for half minute, as was the case at Sing
Sing; of course, it would have killed me,
but in the meantime, in the interval be-
tween my first contact with tae wire and
Inconsistencies, suffered an agony which
no one but a fend would compel the
greatest villain ever born to undergo.
SIT was the same way with Wood,
Smiler, Slocum and Jugiro. l. probably
took longer for the current to render them
unconscious because the voltage vas but
little over half ~ much as received, yet
during ihst time they suffered enough 10
atone for all the sins that have been COM
mitted since the creation Of the world.
II am one Of the few living men who
can speak with authority on the subject,
because to all intents and purposes l suf-
fered death by electricity, and know ex-
actly what it is.