Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-11-24
NAN WHO ELECTROCUTES.
STATE ELECTRICIAN DAVIS OF
NEW YORK A PERSON OF
MYSTERY.

F1dS FuL SCNGnky-IOuF ~STSOUS 10
Death--Nobody Knows Where to
Find Him Between Executons-Is
Threatened, but Isn't Afrad--His
Views of His Calling.
When he killed the Van Wormer
boys in the State Prison at Dame
mora, says the New York Sun, State
Electrician Edward E. Davis finished
his seventy-fourth execution by cleo
tricity. Of these, seventy-one occur
red in this State, two in Massachu-
sets and one in Ohio.
This man who invented the electric
chair, owns the patents on it and is
the only man who can absolutely be
depended upon the conduct an eXecu-
ton without hitch, is remarkable in
other respects. Thus, wherever he
goes he f1ocl1s by himself. He rarely
speaks to anybody unless he Is spoken
to first, and then he SIS found to be a
most affable persons, more than anx-
ious to talk about himself and his
work
He will cheerfully answer any ques-
ton put to him, no matter how per-
sonal it may be- About his work he
is absolutely cold blooded.
He looks upon an execution as q
matter of business, nothing else. In
this he reminds one very much of lit
tie Joe Atkinson, the old Tombs hang
man. who was as cheerful an execu-
toner as one would care to meet.
my dear sir, l do not kill these
men," said Mr. Davis just after the
Van Wormer execution to an inquirer.
''The people of the State Of New York,
acting through a judge and jury, kill
! them.
81 am simply the instrument of the
law. l work the machinery by which
the State of New York takes the lives
of murderers."
Davis is a little, gray haired man of
so. Ask New York politician who is
the hardest man to find in the city
and he will tell you Tim Sullivan.
Ask a State official at Albany, espec-
tally Superintendent of Prisons Col
Inns, who is the hardest man in the
State to find and he will tell you it
| is Davis.
Davis is living mystery. He slips
from place to place, never maintain
ing residence in a given locality for
any length of time and rarely letting
anybody know where he is.
| 1o
suddenly in Albany, maps out his
work for the next few months, and
then goes away again, wither nobody
/ knows. He can be absolutely depend
ed upon, however, to put in an APP
pearance at a State Prison where
there is to be an execution several
days before it is to take place.
He goes right to the death chamber
| and gets everything in readiness, and
after the execution he goes away as
silently and as mysteriously as he
came.
The State pays Davis $3.50 for each
man he kills. 1t has tried repeatedly
to buy his patents, but he will not
sell. If he should die there are prob.
ably plenty of men who would be able
to work his apparatus, but it would
be more or less of an experiment, even
if an electrician willing to do the work
could be found.
Davis mysterious movement are at
tributed by some to a fear of assassi-
nation Davis was asked about this
recently and laughed heartily. He re-
ceives many threatening letters, he
said but pays no attention to them.
The night before an execution Davis
goes to bed very early and leaves
word that every precaution is to be
taken not to have any noise around
his room. He sleeps like top and
wakes up bright and early.
His work in the death chamber, out
side of preparing the apparatus, is
very slight He looks on while the
keepers strap the man in, then puts
his hand on the switch, and at sig
nal turns on the current. He never
leaves the switch after the first
shock until the man in the chair is
officially declared dead.
Very naturally, some people have
an aversion to Davis because he is the
State executioner Far from being IN
noyed by this, Davis is rath IT
amused.
At a recent execution Davis took
dinner at a hotel near the prison.
! SaveraT reeuIar hoarders at tho hotel
refused to sit at table with him, pre-
ferring to wait until he was through
Davis calmly ate his dinner, read
ing his paper the while, and then
smoked two cigars while the hungry
boarders waited for him to get away
Davis has not assistants He does
his work alone, and, unpleasant as the
work may seem, ne certainly does II
I