Los Angeles herald., 1891-07-08
The New Mode of Execution
Entirely Satisfactory.
How SlOcum, Smiler, Wood and
JugirO Met their Death.
The Jap Was the Only One who Made
tho Least Sign of Resistance-Death
Was instantaneous in
Each Case.
Associated Press Dispatches.

Smiler, Wood and Jugiro, took place
this morning. Slocum was killed at
A lazy O'Clock; Smiler at STA, Wood at
s :39, and Jugiro at 6 O6.
The group of newspaper men lounging
on the stone steps and bluff opposite the
prison, saw the first signal announcing
that one of the men had paid the pen
atty for murder with his life. 1t was
small white flag, which was run to the
top of pole, and then pulled down.
It was the prearranged signal
that Slocum, the baseball
player, the man who hacked his
wife to death with an axe, had died just
five minutes before. Before the flag was
set the news was on a dozen waiting
wires.
A close calculation fixes the time of
Slocum's death at :421a. There was a
little hustle outside when the flag went
up, but as soon as it was pulled down
everything became quiet again. The
deathlike silence which followed the
hustle caused by the raising Of the flag
was oppressive.
At 5:15 O'Clock the first rays of the
morning sun topped the eastern bluffs
and frightened up the scene. The
square of blue bunting which crawled
slowly up the pole at 5 10 announced
that Smiler, the Salvation army boy,
slayer of his third wife, had given life
for life five minutes before. 1t took
the attendant five minutes to go to the
top of the prison and hoist the signal.
THE BLACK FLAG.
There was some speculation as to
what color the next flag would be, and
whether Lawyer Haire had succeeded
in the object Of his visit to the warden
in behalf of the negro Wood. There
was not much time for speculation, for
at 5 "A O'Clock black flag went up the
pole. 1t settled the fact that negro
Wood, who killed his companion on the
aqueduct during quarrel, was dead.
JUGIRo's COLOR.
The Jap, that big, muscular Thibuya
Jugiro, who in a fit of rage stabbed to
death one of his countrymen, was to
come next. The flag of death for him
was red. 1t was believed that the taking
of The foreigner to the chair would be a
hard task, and there would be such a
scene in the death chamber as the
warden who talked of the killing OF men
as he would of beheading chickens for
his Sunday dinner, could not forget as
long as he lived.
The Jap had queer idea about the
mode of death. He believed that when
he was taken to that mysterious room,
he was to be tortured. He had said
that he would fight before he would sit
in that chair. The displacement of the
wires or of the harness, caused by a
struggle, would mean torture.
The watchers anxiously looked up at
the pole on the roof to see the red flag
announce TO them the death of Jugiro.
1t was long in coming. That fact saw
ored of a struggle. 1t was all over pres
emily. The law had been carried out to
the letter, and the red flag went up. The
jap died at 6:06 o'clock.
One of the witnesses of the affair gave
the following account of the occurrences
in the death chamber:
THE FIRST VICTIM.
After the experts had tested the cleo
trio current and found everything in
order, Warden Brown, Deputy Warden
Connaughton and two deputies entered
the death building. Slocum was selected
as the first victim, and as soon as the
priests had finished their supplication,
he stepped out of his cell with alacrity.
The walk to death began. Following
the warden and deputy came Slocum be-
tween two priests, who held aloft in
front of him a cruci6x, at which he
-gazed. Two deputies brought up the
rear of the fateful procession. Slowly
the heavy doors swung back, and
with solemn tread the little procession
walked into the room where the silence
of death prevailed. They had but a few
steps to take; the chair was directly in
their 'front.' AS the leaders parted, the
chair stood out in all its awfulness be-
fore the man about to sit IN it and die.
Slocum halted at the warden's COM
mand, just on the edge of the rubber
mat which was to protect those who
were to watch the life 60 out. The
doomed mans gaze was riveted on the
chair, then it wandered to the dang
ling wire and the closet from which it
was suspended. Back to the chair it
came like a needle to the magnet,
and he started as though he had received
q shock from the wire, when the warden
began reading the death warrant, while
the reverend men were engagedin in silent
prayer. The witnesses were grouped to
the left of the chair; the scientists stood
in front of the switch board, watching
the current which they read like book
as it flashed in the lamps and through
the recording instruments. The execu-
toner was heard to rise from his chair
in the closet, and place himself ready to
do his duty.
SEATED IN THE CHAIR
With an attempt at a smile, Slocum
seated himself in the chair and leaned
his head back against the rubber rest as
though he was simply preparing to be
shaved. The forced smile remained on
his face, and as Fathers Creeden and
Lynch took a position in front of him,
he again directed his gaze at the cross,
while Connaughton began fastening the
straps. The straps crossed and re-cross-
ed hIs body, and his legs were tightly
bound to the foot-rest; then his arms
were fastened, and Slocum could no
longer move a muscle. Finally the
oddly arranged set of straps that bound
the chair in one position and covered
his eyes were put in place.
Now Doctors Macdonald and Rock
well and Professor Landy approached to
attach the electrodes. The positive
electrode was placed on Slocum's head,
the same as in the Kemmler electrocu-
tion. The negative electrode was at
Il