The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-07-02
PAYS THE DEATH PENALTY
BUOHANAN ELEoTROOUTED AT SING
 SING, YESTERDAK.

SIN0S lEHIEhOAls
 Physieians Declared Life Not Extinct After
 the Electric Current Was Turned on
 The Second Current Killed aim-The
 Full Current of 176O Volts Used Roth
 Times.
 Sing Sing, N, r., July 1.-Electrical ex- ecution seems to be still matter of ex- pertinent and uncertainty. The current had to be applied twice to pr. Bucha- nan, killed here this morning, before he was dead. It was kept on first for fifty seven seconds. beginning at 1,76o volts and running down to 50 volts.
 Carlyle Harris and the others killed here recently were pronounced dead af- ter such current had been passed through them. When the current was turned off to-day and Buchanan was thought to be dead, Drs. Irvine and Gibbs examined him. He gasped twice, and the physicians discovered that his heart was still beating. They declared life not extinct After an interval of 32 seconds, the full current of 1,760 volts was turned on and continued for 2S sec onds, when Dr. Buchanan was pro- nounced dead.
 The witnesses who had been invited to witness the execution entered the death chamber at :15 o'clock. Elec- trician Davis was engaged in making the final preparations for the execution. After the witnesses had taken the seats prepared for them about the walls of the room, Electrician Davis placed Q board containing twenty ineandescent lamps across the arms of the chair. Then he turned the current on and the lamps shone brightly.
 This test was made in order to see if the electrical apparatus was in good working order.
 Immediately after the current was turned off from the lamps the wires leading from the cap to be worn by the occupant of the chair and from the sponge that was to be bound to his left leg were connected with the wires from the electrical switchboard at the back of the chair
 Head Keeper Connaughton and State Detective Jackson stood at either side of the chair. and the warden went out through the iron door leading to the corridor next to Buchanan's cell. A moment later he returned. followed by Buchanan, who was leaning on the arm of Prison Chaplain Welles, and followed by the prison guards, Durkin, Deety, McMillin and Mullin.
 i D0 ntn fxyta hst ,,a y, was brought into the death chamber. His eyes were closed and his face was of a deathly pallor, but he walked with a firm step as he was piloted in the di- rection of the death chair. He made no movement, as his arms were grasped by the two guards who stood at either side of the chair. He sunk into the chair as if he were in a. state of collapse, The straps were quickly adjusted by Keeper Connaughton and Detective Jackson.
 The cap containing the sponge through which the electricity was to pass into Buchanan's head was clamped down, and the left leg of his trousers was pull ed up to the knee where a second sponge was clamped in place.
 iiG5 Iui1 Ndn tGA hSd oll shN AAs-l o'clock. Its first shock was given at the maximum pressure, that of 1,760 volts. The body in the chair strained against the straps at the first contact of the current Dr Irvine, the prison physi- cian and Dr. Gibbs stood by the chair, watch in hand, noting the effect of the current Seven seconds after the cur rent was turned on gradual reduction was commenced, which lasted for fifty one-seconds
 At the end of that time the pressure of the current had heen reduced to q low voltage. Then 1t was turned off completely, and Dr. Irvine proceeded to make an examination of the body. He discovered that the heart of Bu- chanan was palpitating slightly While he was making the examination Bu- chanan's mouth opened slightly and he gasped twice. Dr. Irvine signalled for the current to be turned on again.
 It was turned on at full pressure, 1,760 volts. Again the body stiffened up against the straps that bound it until the heavy oak chair creaked. There was a sound of burning flesh and many of the witnesses turned their eyes away from the chair. At the end of twenty-three seconds the current was turned off. Then a second ex- animation was made. and Buchanan was pronounced dead at 11:22:53 o'clock
 While Buchanan was being executed his wife was in the apartments of the warden. When the witnesses began to arrive Mrs. Buchanan became very hys- terieal. Some of the physicians in at tendance gave her quieting potions and she was under the influence of them during the rest of the day.
 It was just as well that the physi- clans did that, otherwise there would have been horrible scene. She told Warden Sage she was sorry she was not permitted to see her husband just before the execution. Buchanan would not permit her to call on him at the last moment, as he was afraid the meeting would unnerve him and cause him to break down in the execution chamber.
 The autopsy revealed the fact that Buchanan's brain weighed 31% ounces The normal brain, weighs AT ounces, so that Buchanans brain was very small one.
 Among the witnesses of the execution were Drs Van Sickles, Morrell, Mines, B. T. Sheehan, William J. O'Sullivan and Dr. Irvine, the prison physician