Huntsville gazette. [volume] (Huntsville, Ala.) 1879-1894, 1891-07-11
40 HUNTSVILLE. ALA. SATURDAY, JULY H. 1891

"a plain wooden chair with perforated
wood seat, the back having slight in
cline. Near the top of the chair back
was a beveled cushion of rubber for the
prisoners head and neck to rest against.
Above this extended wooden figure
4, the long arm of which was clamped
with two wooden setscrcws to the back
OF the chair. In front of the chair ex-
tended foot-rest, to which the legs of
the prisoner were to be bound. This
was the only important particular in
which the chair differed from the Kemm-
ler chair. Kemmler'slegs were separated
and fastened to the front legs of the
chair in which he sat. The chair was
placed on a rubber mat to insulate it.
Behind the chair, built against a parti-
I ton wall which divided the building
INTO two apa rtments, was closet open
ing at the top, about seven feet high.
In this closet was the switch board
which was to be used in turning the
| current into the condemned men. Be
fore the entrance of the witnesses the
| executioner had entered this closet
from the other room, and sat facing
for the signal from the warden to turn
the switch Who he was is not known,
| and will not be known authoritatlvely.
1t is generally supposed that the execu-
toner was a convict from the prison,
detailed for the duty. On the, right of
| the witnesses, as they entered, was the
massive iron door which closed the
| passage leading into the prison for the
condemned. 1t was almost as massive
and impenetrable as the brick walls
| about it, and as impervious to sound.
Seated in their cells with only the walls
| and the iron door between them and
the engine of death, the condemned
men heard nothing of the busy prepa
rations going on in the execution room.
They knew that their last minutes
were being measured off, though, for
their spiritual advisers had been with
them for some time giving them such
| consolation as they could.
There was no indication outside the
prison walls that active preparations
for the executions were going on with
in. The warden had not slept all night,
nor had he any sleep the night before.
Late at night he told the witnesses to
go to bed in rooms assigned to them.
They would be called, he said, when the
time for the execution arrived. None of
| them knew what the hour would be, but
| all of them supposed that it would be
soon after daybreak. 1t was nearly
| midnight when most of them went to
| their rooms to get a little sleep. while
| the warden sat down in his Office and
waited for any legal summons which
might stay the execution. At half
| past o'clock the grinding of coffee in
| the warden's kitchen indicated the
| preparation Of breakfast for the war
dens guests; but this sign of life
was quickly concealed from the
watchers without and the shutters
of the dining-room windows were
tightly fastened. All of the shutters
of other rooms were closed, so that no
evidence of the time when the wit
| nesses should gather in the wardens
| parlor preliminary to the execution
should be given.s
Shortly after 5 o'clock the attorney
for Wood, Lawyer Haire, left the
warden, after fruitless hour spent in
trying to convince him that the papers
he had filed in the federal court should
act as stay Of execution. DeputyAt
| torney-General Hogan, who had set up
with the warden, decided the disputed
legal question for him, and the con-
demned mems last hope was extin-
guished when, shortly after O'clock,
the warden lay down on couch in
his parlor to get little rest.
Outside the prison walls the group of
newspaper reporters which had
watched all through the night re-
mained on guard. The guard paced
slowly up and down the roadway. At
$3.50 o'clock the lights in the town and
the lights in front of the warden's S
house went out suddenly. Itgw was a
half hour before the usual timesfor ex-
tinguishing these lights. and the fact
that they had gone out indicated that
the power ansed in generating the
electric current for them was to be
used in operating the dynamos attached
to the execution apparatus.
"A few minutes later the whizz of the
dynamo sounded through the still
morning hour. 1t was o clock and the
warden had arisen from his couch and
sent one of his assistants to rap softly
on, the doors of the sleeping rooms up
stairs to awaken the witnesses. Some
of them had retired half dressed, and
they were quickly down stairs The
two priests and the prison chaplain had
been summoned more than an
hour before, and after drinking a
cup of prison coffee had gone down
to the cells of the condemned men.
They had been awake most of the night.
When the warden visited them they
were wide awake, and evidently expect
ing the end to come soon. They knew
that Kemmler had been killed on the
second morning, and they did not be-
lieve that their time would be delayed
much longer. There bad been no in
crease of the guard; the regular watch
ers, Partridge and Baxter, had re
mained with them from 6 o'clock last
night. Most of the men were awake
when, shortly before 4xo'clock, the
and tho ,l1i al