Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1895-09-20
A REVOLVING SIGHT.
so SAYS PROFESSOR ANTHONY OF
DEATH BY ELECTRICAL EXECUTION.

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 the Chair.
It is difficult to conceive Of a 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
DIAL part in the execution. The con-
demned 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 off, the
body becomes limp, one Of the ply
sicians tears open the shirt and listens
for the heart beats. He exclaims that
the heart is 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 a rough |
table and cut up, according to law.
These are the details as given in the .
daily papers, in one Of which thereport /
er 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 We're
seeking to provide for the condemned
murderer.
Why was electricity chosen as the
agent? Why not any one of several other
means of causing death? l 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 tha5 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
trical 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- Z
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 l
be the effect of a pistol shot through the =
brain And why not use a pistol shot
for executing a criminal? He might be
oNLaBBDu " q AAeANtAIaaI q nH4AAAbAAo4D VI
pistols arranged around his head termi- Y
mating at the temples, and, if desirable,
another group could be placed over the Q
region Of the heart If electricity must
be used, arrange to fire the pistols ST.
by pressing button. Why u
not? Would it be more uncertain? u
Would it be less humane? Would it be y
more blood curdling? Would it be less J.
instantaneous" But perhaps there 4
would be too little mystery about it and i.
too little complicated apparatus requir- 4
ID. There would be no need Of cutting u
man up to see what killed him or u u
whether he was really dead q
If we must infiict the death penalty II
md wish to be really humane about it, Il
here are surely many ways by which I.
ieath can be brought swiftly and GER II
ainly without inducing muscular con- .
ortions, or burning the flesh, or mutt II
ating the body. The criminal could be y,
,iven a sleeping draft and then laid out =.
n a glass case, which could then be fill a.
ID with the fumes Of burning charcoal
l see no reason why we should seek a.
o make death particularly easy to the
riminal. Hook upon the whole scheme u
( capital punishment as a hideous blot II
ipon our civilization, but if a man must "
~ punished with death it is certainly ~ ~
lot upon the theory that he must be put ~
ut of the way in the easiest possible -
manner for him. It is assumed that the n'
read of the death penalty will pre- on
ent crimes that otherwise might be 81
ommitted. The penalty, if it is to be Se
Inflicted, should come in a'form to be =. "a
readed, yet there is no excuse for tor ~
IRE or for the semblance of torture VI
he criminal should come to his fate ~
nth a full knowledge of what awaits ~ ~
i'm. The execution of the sentence "a
Mould be by method that is swift and IA
ire, without mystery, and about the e 60
feet Of which there is no uncertainty.
here should be no opportunity for ~ ~
oubt as to the result, and no reason for ~
Zcuse for a repetition of an operation. va
Electricity does not fulfill these ne
and never can until we
now far more than we do at present Of w
s effects in the human organism. If
g knew all we ought to know to war
mt its use, believe an instrument an
lat could be carried in the pocket the
ould accomplish the results as surely Ra
the hundred horse power engine and POI
7namo now employed Professor W. col
Anthony in Chicago Electrical Jour- on
Il. an,
Austrian Grown Treasures. mt
Among the treasures of the Austrian a.
o.r,, ara Soma re1i0io,,S talios tbat Ao'