Morning journal and courier., 1893-07-28
TWICEIN THE CHAIR.

Horrible Scenes at The ElectrocutiOn
of Murderer TaylOr-The Poorest
Gave Way and Then the Dynamo
Armature Burned Out-Lfnemen
Connected the Apparatus with an
Electric Light Plan: and He Was
Finally Killed.
AUBURN, N. Y, July 27.-William q.
Taylor, colored, was executed by electricity
this afternoon for the murder of Soloman
Johnston in Auburn prison February 20,
1892. 1t was twenty minutes to one when
the warden invited the witnesses to follow
him to the death chamber. State Elect1i-
clan Davis was at the electric cabinst and
his preliminary tests with the bank of in
candescents were entirely satisfactory, the
dial indicating voltage of 1890. In the
morning it had run up to 1870 volts.
Two priests, three keepers and the con-
demned man soon came in from the adjoin-
ing room and Taylor was placed in the
chair and tightly pinioned. When all was
ready th9 signal was given and the current
turned on. Tsylor's powerful frame shot
back and up until tbs straps cresked and
simultaneously there was a crash unlike
anything ever heard before in the death
chamber. The strain upon the foot-rest
had broken it aud the underpinnipg of the
chair gave way. The body sank to re-
clining posture, with the victims feet rest
ing Cd the floor. The spectators were star
tied, but did not move. Everybody sup
posed the victim was dead from the fret
shock, when a strange noise was heard
He had begun to gasp for breath, and ga
Iva was seen to exude from his mouth.
Turn on current" was the command of
the warden, and Electrician Davis tried to
obey, but was dumbfounded to find no re-
spouse to the turning of the lever. The
dynamo had broken down. The labored
breathing of the victim continued, and his
chest heaved convulsively. Davis hasten
ed outside to the dynamo to ascertain the
trouble and found the armsture had been
burned out.
The victim who was now gasping and
groaning aloud was unbound and was
placed upon a cot aud carried into the ad
Joining room. His pulse grew stronger
and he endeavored several times to rise
from tbs cot. Physicians aaid he was IN
conscious, precisely in the condition of
man stricken with apopiexy. He would re-
cover, they thought, and the only way to
cary out the sentence of the law was to
again place him in the chair. Linemen
quickly connected the prison apparatus
with the electric light plant, and in an
hour all was ready for the second electro
cution. Taylor continued to grow strong
and WAS given an injection of morphine.
A small desc of chloroform was also ad
miniets? ed. He was then carried bodily to
the CT IL, which had been repaired, and
was strapped into sitting posture. The
current was then turned on, the body
Strengthened up and for half minute
1,240 volts coursed through Taylor's un-
conscious form and he was pronounced
dead. The stethoscope was applied to the
heart to make sure and the physicians de-
clared there was no pulsation. The first
electrocution took place at 1916, and the
second at LOO.
An autopsy was conducted by Doctors
Brown, Wright and Mooney. The body
was not marked and did not differ in sp-
pearance from any of the other victims of
the chair who had suffered bat single
electrccution. The physician's certificate
stated that Tsylor's muscular development
was very marked. There was an absence
of rigor mortis. Brain, heart, lungs and
kidneys were normal.
All tho physicians agreed that Taylor
was insensible to pain after the first con-
tact. Electrician Davis said the burning
Of the armatures could not have been
foreseen. He stated, however, that all the
stste's dynamos were crowded beyond
their capacity at electrocutions. They
were small dynsmos, not intended to gen
crate more than a thousand volts ordinari
ly, but they were repeatedly run up to
twice that voltsge. He thought the giving
way of the foos-rest might have impaired
the contact with the elec:rods on the head
and Taylor could not have received the
full force of the current for more than in
slant.
Tsylor's remains were buried In the pris-
On graveyard. Taylor was born in Rut
land vt. and was nearly twenty nine years
old. His only relatives are his mother and
brother who lives at Woodstock, Vt.