Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-07-16
DIR. WARD ON THE EXECUTION
He Says II the Men We're Burned They
Were Dead and Did Not Feel It.


of Smiler. He was asked If he could
corroborate the report. The doctor
looked perplexed and walked up and
down for some moments in deep
thought, and then said:
II am considering Just how much or
Just how little ought to say. am not
bound by oath but by honor, which to
me is the same thing, not to divulge
anything connected in any way with
the details of the executions. There
lore cannot answer the question. l
Will not say that Smiler was not burned"
"Will you say he was ?" queried the
reporter of the United Press.
Dr. Ward, with the utmost courtesy,
replied. II will say nothing about it,"
Finally the doctor broke q minutes
silence by saying: Certainly none of
the executed showed anything like the
Disagreement Incidental to death by
hanging. There was not one-half the
horror in witnessing their execution
that would have been If they had been
hanged. Their heart beats were over
fifteen times as quick"
Subsequently Dr. Ward said: "Elec-
tricity is frequently employed thera-
POLITICALLY by physicians, and IT is very
common for the patient to be blistered
OF the point Of contact Although
have no such personal knowledge, It is
affirmed that electric baths often blister
the bather. Now, for the sake of argu-
ment, let us suppose that Smiler was
blistered, and--understand l do not for
q moment say he was-what of it? He
was dead at the first contact, and conse-
quently felt nothing. You have read
that none of them were marked"
"Do you call blister burn ?"
"Certainly not" was his reply. "a
burn would char the flesh"
Again he was Intercepted as to the
turning on Of the current one or twice
after the first had been shut off, to
which he replied: II will not say how
many times 1t was turned on or off. II
could have no earthly difference how
many times. AS matter of fact an
alternating current shut itself off from
1000 to 1900 times a minute. Now, if
1t were turned Off by the switch, it
would be the same cut aft only with
longer interval between II and the next
application of the current"
DR.. Ward would say nothing more,
except that the executions were emf
nently successful. and carried out skill
fully and without any mistakes.
DR.. Charles F. Macdonald was in
town to-day, but could not be inter-
viewed.
The report of the autopsy will be
completed very soon, and will be either
transmitted to Warden Brown or the
governor immediately.
BUFFALO, N. Y, July 9.--That the muir
aerers, Slocum, Smiler, Wood and Jugiro,
nd ahQAl faIa fraa fr..va raj tt. ftns~
electrical execution at Sing Sing on Tues
day morning can no longer be doubted in
the slightest degree. Urs. A. p. South
wick and Clayton NJ. Daniels, the two
Buffalo witnesses of the execution, re-
turned home this morning. Interviewed
said that the four men had not only died
by the most humane possible method of
/ intiictng capital punishment, but that
death was in each case instantaneous and
absolutely painless.
l DIR. 6outhwick added that 1t was true
second shock was given to each man. that
\ the bodies Strengthened up and became
rigid under the second shock and that the
same result would have followed third
or fourth shock, though that fact would
hnot have indicated life, for there was none
after the first electrical contact. The
doctor denied that any sound had come
q from eitherofthe men upon the first shock,
!
but slight scald or white blister in each
case where the moistened electrodes had
touched the skin.
1T CUT A SYLLABLE SHORT.
Then the most interesting and conclu-
sive portion of the interview ensued, as
fellows:
How can you be sure, doctor, that the
men died instantly"
'I'll tell you one very satisfactory test.
klnNnnl if1u txrb ba aA Go
Wood. The others said nothing. But
particularly observed Slocum. He was
saying Lord, have mercy on my soul,
when he received the shock. He had Just
said the word my and started to say soul.
The sibilant sound of the s. was made but
the word soul was never uttered. Some
considerable time ago was asked how
quietly death would come in such case.
replied that IL would cut syllable in
two. When Slocum died the syllable soul
was cut in two. Could anybody ask for
better evidence Of instantaneous death?
Another indication" continued DR..
Southwick was the appearance of the
mems features at death. They were un.
disturbed, unchanged from what they
were in life. suggested that they should
close their eyes so that the salt water
from the electrode on their foreheads
should not run into their eyes and give
them needless pain. They did close theil
eyes. That action made certain contrac
ton of the features. That contraction wa:
! there after the men were taken from the
chair"
ONE DIED SMILING.
DR.. Daniels corroborated DR.. Southwicl
! in every particular, and added: Zone Of
} the men died with a smile on his face. II,
was smiling Just as the current was ap
piled. When he was taken from the chat
the smile was still there, set in his face. Il
there had been pain, there would hav,
! been contortion. Each of the men haC
| his mouth free, and would have uttered
sounds il sensibility had not been destroyed
at the first instant"
AUTOPSY CONFIRMS THE STORY.
NEW YORK. July 0.-In an autopsy upor
the body of Murderer Harris A. Smfler
one of the men executed by electricity a
Sing Sing, Drs. Il. NJ. Culver L. A. Roden
stein and G. H. Moak of this city, yester
day demonstrated, beyond the shadow OF I
doubt, that Smiler had died an instant
aneous painless death. The autopsy a
| Sing Sing had not been complete, mas
I much as It had not attempted to even nn
= cover, much less TO examine the brain
But the New York doctors found the brair
and other organs astonishingly normal
Although the iris over each eye was coag
ulated. the electricity had not destroyed o
even injured the delicate optic nerves. Til,
lightning stroke of death had come S,
quick that the vital functions were taker
by surprise; the man was killed as a clocl
is stopped, without breaking or injurinl
his delicate machinery.