The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1895-09-25
A REVOLVING SIGHT.
SO SAYS PROFESSOR ANTHONY or
DEATH BY ELECTRICAL EXECUTION.

DEATH BY ELECTRICAL EXECUTION.
He Says That nc Chief Claim For This
Method of Iapital Punishment Has
Been Disproyd-Other Means That Are
by Far SupeIor to the Chnir.
1t IS difficult To conceive of q much
more rcvOltiIg spectacle under the old
regime than is presented at electrical
executions. A number Of eminent ply
siclans arc Ethercd in tho death cham
Der not on]yto witness, but to take Off
clai part il tho execution. Tho con-
demncd mm is brought in, strapped Sc
cuEely by srong leather straps into the
death char and the electrodes fitted to
the head aud legs At given signal
the currcnts turned on, there is most
violent MUSCULAR contraction that would,
except for the secure bindings, have
thrown. theman from the chair. Then
follow a smoke and smell of burning
flesh. The current is turned off, the
body becomes limp, one of the ply
sicians teas open the shirt and listens
for the heat beats. He exclai1ns that
tho heart is still beating. The wires are
again hastil connected, and tho current
turned on q second time. There is more
muscular contraction, more burning
flesh. Thistime tho several physicians
in turn liscn for the heart heats and
pronounce tie man dead. The body is
taken from ho chair, laid upon rough
table and cut up, according to law.
These arc the details as given in the
daily papers in ono of which the report
er writes ov,r his own signature. They
may be exaggerated, but there can be
no doubt that death by electricity is
anything bit tho calm and peaceful
death that he authors of the law were
seeking to provide for tho condemned
murderer.
Why was electricity chosen as the
agent! WhynOt any one Of several other
means of casing death? 1 can conceive
Of no reason except that the effects of
electricity vcro least understood and
there was tic least actual know ledge Of
how best to sot about it to kill man
by this meals. No ono even now knows
exactly how electricity kills Recent
experiments by Dr.. Bleile Of Columbus,
o., remarkable for the ingenious and
thoroughly scientific methods by which
all tho effects have been studied, have
thrown new light upon the subject but
even today we arc very far from know
ing, with the precision with which other
causes of death are known, Just how
death is causd by the electric shock.
Neither do Wp know how to apply the
current. Certainly if there is no less
cumbersome apparatus and no less clum-
sy method available than that i'll use at
Sing Sing this of itself is sufficient rea-
son for abandoning this mode of eXecut-
ing criminals.
1t is often claimed i'll behalf of cleo
trical executions that death is instan-
taneous and painless. In no report that
| have ever seen is there any evidence
of instantaneous death. All tho evidence
that can DO 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 10 doubt it is, but so would
be the effect of pistol shot through tho
brain And why not use pistol shot
for executing criminal? He might DO
strapped to mattress, semicirclo of
pistols arranged around his head termi-
mating ut tho temples, and, if desirable,
another group couId DO placed over the
region Of the heart. If electricity must
be used, arrange to fire tho pistols 81
simultaneously by pressing button. Why
not? Would it be moro uncertain?
Would it DO less humane? Would it be
moIe blood curdling? Would it be less
instantaneous" But perhaps there
would be too little mystery about it and
too little complicated apparatus requir-
ed. There would bo no need of cutting
man up to SEQ what killed him or
whether he was really dead.
If wo must infict the death penalty
and wish to be really humane about it,
there arc eurely many ways by which
death can be brought swiftly and GER
tainly without inducing muscular con
tortions. or burning the flesh, or mutt
lating tho body. The criminal could he
given sleeping draft and then laid out
in Il glass case, which could then be fill
ed with the fumes of burning charcoal
see no reason why we should seek
to mako death particularly easy to the
criminal look upon the whole scheme
OF capital punishment as q hideous blot
upon our civilization, but if man must
be punished with death it is certainly
not upon the theory that he must be put
out of tho way in the easiest possible
manner for him. 1t is assumed that the
dread of tho death penalty will pre-
vent crimes that otherwise might be
committed. The penalty, if it is to be
inflicted, should come i'll form to be
dreaded, yet there is no excuse for tor
ture or for the semblance Of torture
The criminal should come to his fate
with q full know ledoo Op what await,