The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-10-27
Chicago Chronicle)

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" HE method to be employed in the
legal execution Of assassin Czol-
gosz is thoroughly in keeping
with the progress of the centu-
ries. He is to die by the latest and
most approved form Of capital punish
ment, electrocution. While the manner
Of his taking of is. rhaps, a MINOR
incident compared with the major fact
that he is to pay tho penalty of his lfe
for his crime it is "A commentary on
the advancement of the world that an
assassin guilty Of the most henious Of
fense is to be executed, not as in the
old days by a more barbarOuS and
Painful death than that melted oct to
other murderers, but in the most nu-
name method approved by the laws or
the state IN which he was convicted
Time vas wher the assassin Of ruler
was dragged to pieces by four horses
attached to his four limbs and driven in
opposite directions. In some Of the
Oriental countries TO this day the most
cruel and revolving tOrtUres are re-
served for these who even attempt the
life of a pOtcntate or are suspected of
completely in plots against him. Boil
ing in oil. drawing and quartering are
among the least terrible of these pun
ishments. while the looping off of sin
gle members from the living body un-
iii death relieves the victim is COM
mon punishment for notable crimes
In China 70 this day criminals sus-
pected Of plots against the emperor or
other high officials are placed in bam-
boo cage and kept constantly awake by
their guards until death from fatigue
ensues. They are pTOdded with sharp
instruments on the least sign of sleep
and their suffeTings are impossible TO
describe after three or four days of
this torture. But CzoIgosz. who would
have met a fate as terrible as any of
these had he committed a like crime
in an Oriental country. or even in many
European countries, is to meet death
I'm the fOrrs declared to be most hui
name and practically painless by med
zeal men. a current of electricity rs
TO be shot through his body. paralyzing
the heart action instantly ana causing
death in a fraction OF a second. In the
familiar phrase of the street. he VIII
never know what struck him." after
the electrician concealed in an inner
room moves the fatal switch which will
send 1000 o. more volts of the mysteri-
Gus current through his body.
More than ten years ago the agitation
looking 10 the abolition of hanging was
begun in New York state. After several
magazine and newspaper articles had
been published expressing the opinions
OF eminent physicians and criminolo-
gists on every phase of the subject
commission was appointed by the leg
into the subject. This investigation
dragged along for several years. dur
ing which time the =, tier was thor
oughly exploited in the newspapers and
at last a favorable report was submit
ted recommending that electricity be
substituted as a death agent for the
time hcnored ropes end. which had
been used in most English-speaking
countries for hundreds of years. = bill
was PASSED in 1897 and il was ordered
5n the law that all executions should
takes place in the state penitentiaries-
ElectrocJtiOn chambers were con-
structed al Sing Sing and Auburn.
equipped with the death chair which
superseded the old gallcws, wires which
took the place of a rope and an electric
switchboard which performs the func-
lions of the old trap
Several executions have taken place
under the new conditions and with re-
suits which more than verified all the
claims Of the physicians. AutOpsies
were held on the bodies of the first
criminals executed in order that the
surgeons and officials might learn ex-
actly what effect the tremendous cur
rent hao upon the tissues and organs
of the body and discover in that way
whether death was instantaneous. 1t
was found that the blood was coagu-
lated and other indication went to
prove that eleCtroCutiOn was certain
instantaneous and practically painless
fern Of death. This is what awaits