Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1895-12-02

executions. A number 81 eminent Ily
sicians are gathered ia the death cham
Der not only to witness, but 10 take OH
cial 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 70
the head and legs AT given signal
the current is turned on. there is a 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 exclaiIns 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 rough
table and cut up, according TO law.
These are the details as given in the
daily papers, in one of which the report
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 were
seeking to provide for the condemned
murderer.
Why was electricity chosen as the
agent? Why not any one CT several other
means Of causing DEATH | can conceive
of no reason except that the effects Of
electricity were least understood and
there was the least actual knowledge Of
how hest to set about it to kill a man
by this means. No one even now knows
exactly how electricity kills. Recent
experiments by DE-. 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 10 less clum-
sy method available than that III use at
Sing Sing this of itself is sufficient rea-
son for abandoning this mode Of execut-
ing criminals.
1t is often claimed in 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 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 a pistol shot
for executing a criminal? He might be
strapped to a mattress, a 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 ST.
simultaneously by pressing button. Why
not? Would it be more uncertain?
Would it be less humane? Would it be
more 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 be no need OF cutting
a man up TO see what killed him or
whether he was really dead.
If we must infiict 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 a glass case, which could then be fill
ed with the fumes of burning charcoal.
l see no reason why we should seek
to make death particularly easy to the
criminal Hook upon the whole scheme
of capital punishment as a 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 the way III the easiest possible
manner for him. 1t is assumed that the
dread Of the death penalty will pre-
vent crimes that otherwise might be
committed. The penalty, if it is to be
inflicted, should come III 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 full knowledge of what awaits
him. The execution of the sentence
should be by method that is swift and
sure, without mystery, and about the
effect of which there is no uncertainty.
There should be no opportunity for
doubt as to the result, and no reason for
excuse for a repetition of an operation.
Electricity does not fulfill these re
quirements and never can until we
know far more than we do at present Of
its effects in the human organism. If
we knew all we ought to know to war
rant its use, l believe ali instrument
that could be carried in the pocket
would accomplish the results as surely
as the hundred horse power engine and
dynamo now employed. Professor W.
A. Anthony IL Chicago Electrical Jour
nal.
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