Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-12-18
HE EXECUTED HIMSELF
MurdereiSC ronin Met Death on
the Machine Gibbet.
TIE EXECUTION WAS A SUCCESS
u Was the First Time That This Death Trap
Had Ever Been Tried-shot Into the Ain
by a Mysterious Spring and His Neck In
stantly Broken.


murderer of South Windsor, was executed
at :O9 o'clock this morning on the new
death machine which has excited so much
| comment in medical and legal circles dur
| ing the past few months.
The scene was a weird one not alone for
the novelty of the hanging occurring mt
such an hour of the night, but for the
complete military discipline by the warden
in conducting the men to the execution
house. Every detail was carried out with
o strict precision, such as charactcrizes an
execution Mt n court martial.
Within the execution room was another
uncanny scene. Lighted up by IL gas jets,
the room was bare in its outlines. save tho
closet in the corner inclosing the mechan-
ism and n chair which had been provided
should the prisoner faint. In the center
of the room hung ths moose, and on the
wall was the dial which was to tell the
story of the progress of the automatic
movement.
CIOnin met death with only slight
trcmor His arms were bound when he
left the cage and was marched into the
room. with Keepers DOolittle and Perkins
on either side. As he stepped on the plat
form he tremblcd slightly and stood with
is head bent forward. The fine shot in the
machine WAS started by Warden Wood
bridge by putting his foot on n lever.
Deputy Warden Baisden placed black
hood over Cronin's head. and the keepers
bound his legs at the knees and ankles. DIR.
L. G. Fox, the prison physician. adjusted
the moose so that the large knot in the five
eighths inch MANILA rope was placed di-
rcctly under the left car.
Pressed the Lever.
The dial ON the wall showed that the
shot had been running in the machine for
90 seconds. surgeon Fox turned away,
and as the deputy warden raised his hand
toward the warden, signifying all was
ready, the warden did not wait forthe shot
to rim slowly cut, which would require
90 seconds more. He at once pressed his
foot on second lever and jumped the shot
Mt once.
Cronin's body shot up into the air five
feet at an angle of about 30 degrees and
fell hack instantly, his feet being about 5
inches from the floor. The body was mo-
tionlcss for about ten seconds, when a per-
ccptiblc twitching Of the whole frame was
noticeable for few seconds. His hands
became very firmly clinchcd, growing
tighter and tighter until rigor morris set
in just nine minutes after the fatal trap
was sprung.
Successful. said the warden, and
nearly every one present stepped up To him
and shook hands with him.
W. r. sill, one of those present. who has
attended 10 executions. said that he had
oCvCr seen any so perfectly carried out as
this. The whole affair was perfectly noise
less, the dull thud of the heavy weight rs
it struck the ground not being noticeable
in the excitement OF the moment.
The witnesses for whom Warden Wood
bridge had provided according to law he
gan gathering at the prison carly in the
evening Several others who had to DO
denied admittancc To the execution We're
among the number who assembled in the
wardcn'S house.
Nine newspaper men, three directors of
the prison-McSsrS. Bnllnan, Chittcndcn
and Standardization Woodbridge. Dcpu-
~ Warden Bais,icn, Officers Doolittlc and
Perkins Chaplain Dighton Moses, the pris
ON physician. DIR. +. q. Fox; Rev. Fa-
Their Brudcrick and John 7. Lynch, Gro
nin's spiritual advisers, and Sheriff Miles
b. Preston of Hartford county were the
| witnesses of the hanging.
How the GaIIows Worked.
The execution Of Crunin was interesting
aside from the attention which such events
always attract. Ii was the first hanging
in this state under the law passed by the
last general assembly and the first trial Of
an automatic gallows in the cast. Until
this year the Connecticut law required
that murderer should bc executed in the
! Jail of the county in which the crime was
| committed, but many OF the jails are re
garClcd as unsafe.
Therefore the last legislature enacted u
measure which provides that all Conncc-
ticut murdcrcrs shall bC executed in the
state prison at WcthCrsficld. The adoption
of the automatic gallows was not provided
| for by the law. but was the idea OF Ward
en- Jabcz l.. Woodbridge. Warden Cham
| berlain's successor. The warden believed
the galIows employed in Colorado to b.
| the most humane and successful hanging
! machine in use. and with desire for i'm
| provcmcnt he last spring began expert
| ments with n model built after the plan
| OF the Colorado device.
The objection to this machine was that
when the execution was started il could
| not be stopped Wishing tn avoid the spec
tacle of a man being launched into Ctcrni-
| " in the midst Of prayer, as was once
| the case in Colorado, the warden cndcav-
| ured TO remedy this defect. James ii.
| Rabbett of Stamford. Conn, fOrgcr, who
| is serving n sentence of -. years ut
Wethcrsficld and "a clever carpenter, was
asked to solve the problem, and he readily
accomplished the task.
| Together the creation was evolved
| which is known as WoOdbridgc's automat-
ic gallows- An Improvement of the first
| machine was the substitution of small
shot for water to operate the lever which
| released the weight and an arrangement
| whereby the execution may be stayed ut
any moment. The compartment in which
the shot was confined resemblcd an hour
glass, and the mechanism employed was
| thoroughly under the warJcn's control
| The shot started in motion by the
| movement of u lever. and another lever
| would have enabled him to have stopped
| IL any time.
The progress of the shot and the ap-
| preaching moment when the weight
would be released was indicated ON dial
which somewhat rcsembled clock. There
was also an arrangement by which the ex-
ccutiOn could be effected ut once.
| Cronin In the Chair.
When Cronin had been seated in the
chair and made fast, n signal from the ex-
ecutioner indicated to the man who had
| charge of the lever that he was ready. The
machinery was then set in motion, there
being no visible evidence of anything I'M
usual The adjustments of the machine
were made So perfect that the weight OF
BOG pounds made no perceptiblc noise rs
1t was released and fell to the ground be.
meath. Instantaneously the victim was
jerked into the air. falling backward 70
within two feet of the floor
The rope used was five-cighths Of an
inch in size. of hemp and tested to sustain
q weight of 1000 pounds. The machine
was first tested on July 81, when "A bag of
sand weighing 1903 pounds was used with
entire success. Other tests were made nj
various times.
One of the principal improvements over
the Colorado appliance is the fact that the
prisoner Is not his own executioner, the
warden or some other person starting the
machinery which releases the weight.
With the original machine when the pris-