The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-10-29

had hold of his arms as if either to sup
port him or to keep him from making
demonstration.
AS he stepped over the threshold he
stumbled but they held him up and as
they urged him forward toward the
chair he stumbled again on the little
rubber covered platform upon which the
chair rests.
His head was erect and with his gray
flannel shirt turned back at the neck,
he looked quite boyish.
He was intensely pale and as he tried
to throw his head back and carry him
self erect his chin quivered very per-
ceptibly. AS he was being seated he
looked about at the assembled witnesses
with quite a steady stare and said:
II killed the president because he was
an enemy of the good people-of the
working people,
His voice trembled slightly at first but
gained strength with each word and he
spoke perfect English.
'I am not sorry for my crime,' he said
loudly Just as the guard pushed his
head back on the rubber head rest and
drew the strap across his forehead and
chin.
AS the pressure on the straps frightened
and bound the jaw slightly, he num-
bled:
Il ann awfully sorry could not see
my father
The Current Turned On.
1t was just exactly I'll o'clock when
he crossed the threshold, but minute
had elapsed and he had just finished the
last statement when the strapping was
complete and the guards stepped back
Warden Mead raised his hand and at
7:12:30 Electrician Davis turned the
switch that threw 100 volts of electri-
city into the living body.
The rush of the current threw the body
so hard against the straps that they
creaked perceptibly.
The hands clinched suddenly and the
whole attitude was one Of extreme ten
sion.
For forty seconds the full current
was kept on and then slowly the cleo
trician threw the switch back reducing
the current volt by volt until it was cut
off entirely. Then just as it had reached
that point he threw the lever back again
for two or three seconds
The body, which had collapsed as the
current was reduced, stffened up again
against the straps.
Wnen II was tuTHeU OIL again III. MI
Farland stepped to the chair and put his
hand over his heart. He said he felt no
pulsation, but suggested that the current
be turned on for a few seconds.
Once more the body became rigid. Al
7:15 the current was turned off fo: good.
"The Prisoner Is Dead"
From the time Czolgosz had left his cell
until the full penalty was paid less than
four minutes had elapsed.
The physicians present used the
stethoecOpe an other instruments to
determine if any life remained and at
7:17 the warden, raising his hand an
, nOunced:
| Gentlemen, the prisoner is dead.
The witnesses filed from the chamber
| many of them visibly affected. and the
! body was taken from the chair and laid
! on the operating table.
| The Electrocution Chamber.
| The chamber in which the murderer
| of President Mckinley was executed was
not the same in which the first electro
cut!on took place here.
1t is a comparatively new building
strikingly elaborate in comparison with
the very old prison structures about II.
1t is built of gray stone and is situated
about half way down the prison yard on
the left hand, or south side.
Entrance to it is possible either from
| the prison yard, or from the main south
| corridor and the execution room proper
may be entered without passing the con-
| demned cells.
| From the time of his entry into the
| death house, Czolgosz was lodged in the
| cell nearest to the chamber, SO that when
he entered the execution room this
morning he had only to step through the
stone arch and, as the greaK iron door
swung behind him he was beside the
| electric chair.
The Room of Death.
The execution room has seats for the
witnesses and is lighted with several
windows placed high in the walls. In
one corner of the wall is the closet in
which the keyboard is situated and in
which Electrician Davis stood when he
| switched the current on.
The preliminaries We're exactly like
those of every other execution.
The witnesses gathered in the Office OF
the warden on the second floor of the
prison at quarter to Z.
At few minutes before the wit.
nesses were told to quickly follow the
warden and state superintendent Of