New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1895-09-18

"a iiREl EVO LTIN g SIGHT
so SAYS PROFESSOR ANTHONY ar
DEATH tBYELEct RlcAE EXECUTION
- -
He says That the Chief Claim For rilis
Method of Capital Punishment Has
& Been Disproved other Means That Are
by Far Superior "a the Shair.
tt isrdi hicult to conceive Of much
more revolving spectacle under the old
regime than is presented at electrical
executions. number of eminent ply
ssici ans are gathered Ing the death cham
Der notsonly to witness; but TO take OH
.Sclal part in the aexecutio on. 591 The con-
8demned man is brought in, strapped se-
curely by strong leather straps into the
death chair and the electrodes fitted to
the head and legs AT d given signal
the current Is turned on, there IS almost
yiolent muscular contraction that would
except for the secure bindings, have
: thrown the man from the chat Then
follow smoke and smell Of burning
flesh. The current, Isl burned off; tie
body Jbeeomes limp. one of the ply
sicians tears open tie shirt and listelliilS
for thesheart beats. He exe1aims 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
or 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, onesof several other
means Of causing death? ~ can conceive
of nosIeason except that 1.-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
sthrown>new alightupen the subject, but
even today7we 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 ifsthere is no less
cumbersome apparatus aud 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. Natzgti > ju-t Ell OILS
1t is often claimed in behalf of elec-
trical executions that death is instan-
2 taneous and painless. In no report that
/ have ever seen. lis 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. m,
Painless no doubt it is, but so would
be the effect Of a pistol shot through the
brain. And why not use a pistol shot
for executing 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 81
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
man up to- see what killed him or
whether he was really ead.~----~--es..-13{I33
five must infict 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
q: ,Icsee no reason why we should seek
to make death particularly easy to the
criminal. Hook upon the whole scheme
Of capital punishment as 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 in the easiest possible
manner for him. It 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 in form to be
dreaded, yet there is no excuse for tor
ture or for the sernblance Of torture.
The criminal Sh0n Id cnma tO All his fate