St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-08
CRUCIFIED IN A CHAIR
Slocum, Smilep, Wood and
Jugiro Are Successfully
Electrocuted.
In the Resignation Of Despair
the Condemned Men Were
DOcile.
Details of the Deliberate and
Sure Vengeance Of the
Law.
An Odor of Burning Flesh At
taehes to the Secret
Killing.

SING SING, N.Y..July -Four felOns
were put to death by electricity
in the states prison here early this
morning for the crime of murder. The
men were James j. Slocum, who killed
his wife December 81, 1899; Harris A.
Smiler, the eX-Salvation army captain
and bigamist, who murdered his second
wife April 8, 1889; Joseph Wood, the
negro aqueduct laborer, who murdered
a fellow laborer, an Italian, in May,
1889, and Shibuya Jugiro. the ignorant
Japanese sailor who brutally killed
fellow countryman in a James street
boarding house. The execution of the
four men is declared to have been per-
fectly successful and without any
of the horrors that attended the exc
cution of Murderer Kemmler at Auburn
prison. There are, however, statements
from witnesses which do not confirm
the assertions by the officials. The first
victim to take his seat in the electrical
chair was Slocum. He was put to death
at 4:40 a. m. Next came Smiler, who
died at $40. Wood was number three
at $50, and Jugiro followed at Cos.
There is an interesting fact connected
with the experiments made yesterday
in the presence of the witnesses of to-
days electrocutiOn which has bearing
on the seeming inet1iciency of the single
contact. A horse was brought in to be.
killed. The dynamo was run up to the.
speed which would generate from !, 800.
to 1,600 volts, the force of the current
which it had been determined would
be turned into the bodies of the con-
demned men to-day. The first contact,
on account of the greater resistance of
the animal, was twenty-eight seconds.
1t did notkill the animal. The
Necessity of Two Contacts
which is affirmed to have been the case
in each of the electrocutions to-day,
finds its excuse. if not in its eXplana-
ton, in the experience with the horse at
Yesterdays experiment. The witnesses
of the execution signed an agreement
last night that they would not reveal
what occurred within the execution
chamber. The warden told them if
they refused to sign they would not be
admitted TO the execution chamber.
All of the witnesses signed the
agreement. 1t is said that the agree
ment was drawn up in the office OF the
attorney general at Albany. 1t was
supposed to be iTOnclad. The autopsies
we're performed by o'clock, and the
corps of physicians left the depot
short time after that for New York and
Albany. DR.. Mcdonald, who conducted
the execution and autopsy, was asked
for statement. He declined to give
any information. saying that the results
would be given out in Albany from Off
ciai sources. Asked to deny the state
ment that the men did not die instantly,
he said: IL have nothing to say as to
that. Unconsciousness was immediate
and the men suffered no pain.
They made no resistance at ALL"
"Do you deny that they were burned?"
was asked. ~ decline to be interviewed
on that point" DR.. Ward was asked:
did the first shock kill the men?" and
he said: II do not care to answer that;
l think the execution successful" DR..
Mcdonald was asked how many volts
were used, and declined to answer. All
of the witnesses have gone, and the
prison has returned to its natural state.