Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-08
AS KEMMLER DIED.

Continued From First PAGE
he seemed to shrink to half his size. His
head bent forward on his breast A shiyer
went through his body. The guard lifted
him mp and pulled him back straight in the
chair. Thev loosened their hold and down
he went within himself again. Again they
pulled him up, and this time held him until
the stout straps were drawn across his
chest, and then about his arms, wrists and
legs. The doctors directed the work.
As it was being done, Loppy muttered.
Beside the chair there was a pail of water
in which large quantity of salt had been
dissolved. One of the doctors took the
sponges from the electrodes and soaked them
in water.
Turning on the First Current.
The big electrode was fastened quickly,
and then the doctor took the metal cap and
placed it over the mans head and buckled
the strap under the chin. Warden Brown
caught the wire that dangled from the long
arm that reached the top Of the box
where the executioner was stationed.
He passed it through the electrode on the
head and fastened its bare end with thumb
screw. Loppy's eyes rolled upward. He
did not watch the fastening of the other
wire. He did not hear the words that
Chaplain Law spoke to him.
The warden, Dr. Mcdonald and Prot.
Londy slipped to the switchboard. The
warden signalled for the turning of the cur
rent in the board The whistle blew Just
then, and all the machinery in the prison
buildings stopped, while the whizzing of
the dynamo could be heard family as the
power was turned into it. The 16 lamps
over the switchboard lighted up. The volt
meter, when the warden signalled for full
power, registered 1,75O volts.
DIR. Mcdonald nodded. The switch was
turned by the executioner and the current
leaped into Loppy's body. The body
seemed about to burst from its bonds The
straps that held it strained at their fasten-
ings, and the chair itself cracked.
Muscular Action After the Shock.
The hands clinched so tightly that the
nails cut deep into the palms. The muscles
of the right leg contracted and drew up as
far as the straps would permit. The chest
was thrown forward, the head back, and
every vein in the face seemed about to
burst. The whole body twisted and seemed
about to be torn apart.
the sight made the lay witnesses sick,
and they turned away. The 1,75O volts shot
DR.. Mcdonald nodded and the switch was
turned off. Loppy was not dead, the laymen
say. The current had been off five seconds
when there came convulsive gasps and
labored breathing. The doctors said the
windpipe, which had been closed by fhe
shock, was opening. The lips moved as if
in an effort to speak. The body, made
rigid by the current, was now relaxed and
limp.
The coolest man in the room was Dr.. Nc
Donald. He paid no attention to the signs
of life. Leaning down, he filled rubber
syringe with the salt water and squirted it,
first on the sponge in the head electrode
and then on the sponge in the other.
One minute had passed since the current
was turned of: The volt meter still regis
tered 1,75O volts. DIR. Mcdonald glanced
at his watch and nodded again at the war
den.
Currents Twice Turned On Again.
In moment the electricity was coursing
through the condemned mans body again.
There were the same commissions as before
and the apparent effort to break the bonds
that held the body. The eyes were open
and staring and seemed starting from his
head. At the end of IL seconds the eyeball
of the left eye seemed about to burst. Some
of the witnesses said it did break.
At the same time the hair and flesh at the
points where the electrodes were applied
were apparently burned. A little smoke
arose from each electrode, and some of the
witnesses say that the odor Of burned flesh
the room.
At the end of IA seconds DIR. Mcdonald
again nodded to the warden and the current
was turned of. But Loppy was not yet
dead, the laymen say. One of the doctors
felt futter of the pulse in one wrist, while
another detected futter of the heart. But
three distinct respirations. These the doc
tors said were due to reflex muscular action.
DIR. Mcdonald again wet the electrode
sponges. Sixty-six seconds elapsed between
the second time the current was turned off
and DR.. Mcdonald signaled to begin work
again.
Loppy Undoubtedly Dead at Last.
This time the sponges dried quickly and
selves blistered and burned. The doctor
held his watch, it seemed to the witnesses,
an interminable period, although it was only
20% seconds, before he signaled for the
last time to turn off the switch.
Then Loppy was dead.
The body was taken from the chair at
once and carried to table in the room back
Of the death chamber. 1t was seen then
that the hair about the temples was burned,
and that the flesh under the electrodes was
scorched and blistered.
DR.. Mcdonald, DR.. jenkins and Dr.. Van
ellison made an autopsy. They found ex-
lctly the conditions, it is said, that were
tound in the cases of the other men who had
lied in the chair. The doctors themselves,
1t the warden's demand, declined to make
public the result of the inquest.
Loppy's body was buried in quicklime in
he prison graveyard at o'clock in the af-
ernoon.