Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1891-07-11
SHOCKED INTO ETERNITY.
Four Murderers Pay the Death Pen
3'. atty at Sing Sing
by Electrocution-Dissolu Csmo In
stantly at the Application of the
' Fatal Current witnesses Pro- 1,
n l.I. nounce the Executiona ,1t 'uuy
.tl Perfect Successor ,.r ..rH'

..ri n. Perfect, Success.u,,i .r, ....Hs |
SING SING, N. Y, July s.-James J.
Slocum, Joseph Wood, III Harris A. Smiler
and ShihiclS Jugiro were lkilled by elec-
tricity in the prison Tuesday morning |
in conformity with the law of the state. |
Slocum was executed at 4:42 a. M, Smi- |
Ter at 5:13, Wood at 5;3s and Jugiro at
6:05. The executions went off quietly.
All of the men were killed on the first
contact. There was no struggle when
they were strapped down and no resist
snce of any kind Every precaution
was exercised here to avoid the mis-
takes which made the Kemmler affair
at Auburn in part failure. The causes
of the accidents and delays there were
known to the warden at Sing Sing and
they had been anticipated in the ar
rangements, for the execution of the
four men. The tested voltage in the
dynamos had been brought up to 5000,
while the estimated voltage which was
turned into Kemmler's body was 750.
The weakness of the current at the
Kemmler execution was chargeable in
part to the slipping of the belts on the
dynamos and especial precautions had
been taken to avoid this. A device for
tightening of the belts if they should
slip was ready in the dynamo room at
the north end of the prison building for
use in case the resistance of the body of
any one of the condemned men in the
chair should cause an unusual strain on
the dynamo and threaten an accident
The electrician was in charge of the
apparatus for measuring the current,
which was fastened to the side of the
closet opposite the entrance to the cell
room. 1t consisted of volt meter, a
resistance coil and row of twenty in
candescent 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 ex-
ecutioner's closet adjoining. A push
Button communicated with a signal bell
in the dynamo room. When the wit
nesses had ranged themselves about the
room the electrician touched this button
once. The engineer responded to the
signal and started the dynamos. They
had been tested up to 8, 900 volts during
the morning. When the current had
been turn ed on, the electrician threw
| the switch which turned it into the row
of lamps above his head. They burst
into glow of light that rivaled the day
light shining through the canvas cover
ing of the windows about the sides of
the improvised execution room. .. ..
The prisoners went to the execution
chair bravely and met their fate with
out struggle They offered no resist
4 ance, but rather assisted the keepers
when they were bound down in the
chair. The electrodes we're not applied
as in the Kemmler case to the top of the
skull and the base of the spine but
were bound to the foreheads of the con.
demned men and the calves of their
legs. The current was turned on ii
each case for twenty seconds. In each
case there were apparent evidences OF
revival, as in the Kemmler case, and il
each of these four cases the current wa:
turned on a second time. In spite o!
the fact that the sponges were kept con
stantly wet all of the executed met
were burned by the current, and espc
cially about the calves of the legs. Th'
medical men present agree that deatt
came on first contact and that the seem
ing revival was merely a reflex muscu
lar action. Two of the witnesses wh
refused to give their names, said: 'Al
the electrocutions were completely sue
cessful and without flaw. None O
the men struggled or resisted whel
placed in the chair. Instead of doin
so they assisted the deputy warden Il
arranging the straps as Kemmler did a
Auburn. The Jap Jugiro, who it wa
thought would be hard to handle, wa
perfectly docile. All of the men wer
killed on the first contact" s
The autopsies were performed by 2
m. and,the corps of physicians left tn
| depot a short time after that for NeN
York and Albany. Dr.. Mcdonald, wh
conducted the execution and autopsy
was asked for a statement. He decline
to give any information, saying tina
the result would be given out in Alban
from official sources: Asked to den
the statement that the men d id not di
: instantly, he said: 81 have nothing t
/ saw as to that. Unconsciousness wa
immediate and the men suffered no pal
: and made no resistance at all"
The autopsy on Slocum was confine
mostly to the brain and heart to fin
out how the strong current had affecte
them. The brain of Slocum was COZ
gested and at every place where I'll
, contact was made the tissues weI
! burned and destroyed. While the bod
. was being removed the witnesses di
: cussed earnestly the similarity which
: bore to the Kemmler case-a similarit
q which seemed to relieve that first ele'
] trocution.of the odium of bungling fai
J ure from which it had suffered in tn
d minds Of many since its details wei
(. published to the world. ~ Srs
4 The bodies of Jugiro, Wood and ST.
. cum were buried late last night in IL
|. Potter's field in quiclllime, Smier
y body u will be removed by his wife til
q morning. 1t is. said that the, warde
: read the death warrants to the co
:, demned men Monday night, shortly b