The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1891-07-16
KILLED By ELECTRICITY
FOUR MURDERERS ELECTROCuTrD
AT SING SING PRISON.

There Was Terrible Shock and Chen OBJ
Nyion-Nothinx to TerrIfy the Spo,t T.
tors-Tho Men Died without IL Strug-
gle.
SING SING, y. V, july 1.-THE four
miserable MISUNDERSTANDING, Smiler,
Wood and JugigO-w,re put to death
here early this morning in the electrical
chair; the first named at l2O q. m. and
the others later, ut interval of about
half an hour apart-Jugigo. the last
victim, receiving the deadly lightning
stroke at G.05 a. IN.
Most ot the men were awake when,
shortly befOre4 O'clock, the priests and
the chaplain appeared. Chaplain Ed
gertOn spoke Il lew words Of comfort
To .Iugigo, when he told him that the
end w;ls near, but the Jap did not re-
cclVe them i'll u grateful spirit. and the
chaplain passed on to Smiler'S cell,
while the Two priests busted themselves
respectively with Slocum and Wood.
The condemned men took very calmly
the announcement that the sentence
was about to be executed. They were
dressed when the chaplain and the
priests entered. Their clothing was
much allke~-a suit Of dark diagonal
white shirt and collar and black tie.
About i Il. III. the WITNESSES distribu-
ted themselves about the death cham
Der. The electrician was in charge of
the apparatus for measuring the cur
rent, which was fastened to the side Of
the closet opposite the entrance to the
cell room. 1T consisted of IL volt-meter,
a resistance coil, and Il row of twenty
lncandescent lamps, each measuring
100 volts. a heavy switchboard formed
the connection between the wires from
the dynamo room at the other end of
the prison grounds and the wires in
the eXecutioners closet adjoining. n
push button communicated with sig
nal bell in the dynamo room. When
the witnesses had ranged themselves
about the room, the electrician touched
this button once. The engineer re-
sponded to the signal and started the
dynamoS They had been tested up to
1900 volts during the morning. When
the current had been turned on the cleo
trician threw the switch which turned
1T into the row Of lamps above his
head. They burst into a glow of light
that rivalled the daylight shining
through the canvass covering Of the
the windows about the sides of the im-
proVlsed execution room.
The testing apparatus showed again
Il satisfactory strength Of current. The
electrician advised the warden Of this
| TACT. The warden went to the great
| iron door ut which stood one Of the as
SlStantS, whom he had ap pointed under
warrant of the law, and it was opened
to permit him to PASS through. He
was gone only couple OF minutes. In
that time he had notified Head Keeper
COnnaughtOn. who Was in the con-
demned eel! room, that the chair was
ready for the first OF the condemned
men.
The death warrant was not read to
tho condemned mon in the cell az was
done in the case OF kemmler The
warden had SAID that he did not know
anything in the law requiring him to
read the death warrant. AS Il precall-
tionary measure he would read it, but
: not at the time of the execution .-
sometime before. if possible. 1t was
his wish to prevent the other men
knowing that the first man had been
taken from his cell if it was possible to
was made as quietly as possible. The
warden and the head keeper walked
, ahead, then the condemned man, be-
tween the two priests, Father Creeden
ana Father Lynch, then the two guards.
When the witnesses had gathered III
the chamber some Of them appeared
very nervous, and all showed signs of
great strain on their SenSibiltieS
SlOcum had been selected rs the first
victim, and as soon us the good priests
had finished their Suppllcatlons, he
said he was ready and stepped out of
his cell with alacrlty. The walk to
death began. Following the Warden
and his deputy came H,locum, between
two priests. who held aloft in front of
him IL cruciiN, ut which he Stpadfastlv
gaZed. Two keeper deputies brought
up the rear Of the fatelul procession
Slowly the heavy doors swung back,
and with Il solemn tread and micn the
little procession walked into the room
where the silence Of death prevailed.
lhcy had hut few steps to take. The
char Was directly in their front. AS
the leaders parted the chair stood out
about TO sit in it and die. Slocunl
halted at the Warden'S command lust
on the edge OF the rubber mat which
was to oprotect those who were Watching
his life go out. The doomed mans
gaze was riveted on the chair Then it
wandered to the dangling wire md the
closet from which 1t was suspended.
Back to the chair 1t came like Il needle
to the magnet, and he started as though
| hc lldl ICCtlNeu SHOCK from llG wire
when the Warden began reading the
death warrant, while the reverend men
engaged in silent prayer. The wit
neSses were grouped to the left OF the
char. The scientists stood in front OF
the switchboard watching the current,
which they read Ikea book as it dashed
in the lamps and through the recording
instruments. The cXecutiOnpr was
heard to rise from his chair in the closet
ANA place himself ready to do his duty.
with an attempt at d smile Slocum
seated himself in the chair and leaned
his head back against the rubber rest
as though he Was simply preparing to
he shaved. The forced smile renamed
on his face, and as Fathers Crepden
and Lynch took up their position in
frono Of him he again directed his gaze
at the Cross while COnnaughton began
fastening the straps. Slocums eyes
were clear and he appeared to be in
perfect physical condition. He took
his eyes from the cross long enough to
aid Deputy Warden Connaughton i'm
his task. and then until the shield was