The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1895-09-25
"A REVOLVING SIGHT.
80 SAYS PROFESSOR ANTHONY OF
DEATH ~ ELECTRICAL EXECUTION.

80 SAYS PROFESSOR ANTHONY OF
DEATH BY ELECTRICAL EXECUTION.
He Says That the Chief Claim For This
Method Of Capital Punishment Has
Been Disproved-Other Means That Are
By Far Superior to tho Chair.
It Is difficult to conceive of q much
more revolving spectacle under the old
regime than is presented at electrical
executions A number of eminent ply
sicians are gathered in the death cham
Der not only to witness, but to take off,
cial part IN the execution. The con-
denied man is brought in, strapped Sc
curely by strong leather straps into the
death chair and the electrodes fitted to
the head and legs. At a given signal
the. current is turned on, there is most
violent muscular contraction that would,
except for the secure bindings, have
thrown the man from the chair. Then
follow a smoke and smell of burning
flesh. The current Is turned of, the
body becomes limp, one of the ply
sicians tears open the shirt and listens
for the heaft beats. He exclai1ns that
the heart lie still beating. The wires are
again hastily connected, and the current
turned on a second time. There is more
muscular contraction, more burning
flesh. This time the several physicians
in turn listen for the heart beats and
pronounce the man dead The body is
taken from the chair, laid upon rough
table and cut up, according to law.
These are the details as given in the
daily papers, in one Of which the report
ct writes over his own signature. They
may be exaggerated, but there can be
no doubt that death by electricity is
anything but the calm and peaceful
death that the authors Of the law were
seeking to provide for the condemned
murderer.
Why was electricity chosen as tho
agentp Why not any one of several other
means of causing death? I can conceive
of no reason except that the effects Of
electricity were least understood and
there was the least actual knowledge Of
how best to set about it to kill man
by this means. No one even now knows
exactly how electricity kills. Recent
experiments by DR.. Belle Of Columbus,
O., remarkable for the ingenious and
thoroughly scientific methods by which
all the effects have been studied, have
thrown new light upon the subject, but
even today we are very far from know
ing, with the precision with which other
causes of death are known. Just how
death is caused by the electric shock.
Neither do we know how to apply the
current. Certainly if there is no less
cumbersome apparatus and no less clum-
sy method available than that in use at
Sing Sing this of itself is sufficient rea-
son for abandoning this mode Of execut-
ing criminals. -
It is often claimed in behalf Of cleo
tricaf executions that death Is instan-
taneous and painless. In no report that
i have ever seen Is there any evidence
Of instantaneous death. All the evidence
that can be gathered from reports Of ac-
cidental shocks goes to show that resus-
citation is possible if the exposure to
the current is Of short duration.
Painless no doubt it is, but SO would
be the effect Of pistol shot through the
brain. And why not use pistol shot
for executing criminal? He might be
strapped to mattress. semicircle Of
pistols arranged around his head termi-
mating at the temples, and, if desirable,
another group could be placed over the
region Of the heart. IF electricity must
be used, arrange to fire the pistols 81
multaneously by pressing button. Why
Would it be less humane? Would it be
more blood curdling2 Would it be less
"instantaneousr' But perhaps there
would be too little mystery about it and
too little complicated apparatus requir-
ed. There would be no need Of cutting
q man up to see what killed him or
whether he was really dead.
II we must inflict the death penalty
and wish to be really humane about it,
there are surely many ways by which
death can be brought swiftly and GER
tainly without inducing muscular con-
tortions. or burning the flesh. or mutt.
lating the body. The criminal could be
given sleeping draft and then laid out
in glass case, which could then be fill
ed with the fumes Of burning charcoal
see no reason why we should seek
to make death particularly easy to the
criminal look upon the whole scheme
Of capital punishment as a hideous blot
upon our civilization, but II q man must
be punished with death it Is certainly
not upon the theory that he must be put
out Of the way in the easiest possible
manner for him. It ia assumed that the
dread Of the death penalty will pre-
vent crimes that otherwise might be