The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1903-11-05
A GRUESOME OCCUPATION.
TAN WHO ELEcTROCUTES CRIrlI-
NAILS IN NEW YORK.

TAN WHO ELEcTROCUTEs cRIrn-
NAILS IN NEW YORK.
Silent Executioner Who Regards His
Calling in Purely Busi-
ness Way
| When he killed the Van Wormer boys
in the State prison at Dannemora last
week State Electrician Edward E. Davis
finished his 74th execution by electricity.
Of these II occurred in this State, two in
Massachusetts 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 to conduct an execution without a
hitch, is remarkable in other respects.
Thus, wherever he goes he focks by him
self. BE rarely speaks to anybody unless
he is spoken to first, and then heis found
to be most affable person, more than
anxious to talk about himself and his
work.
He will cheerfully answer any question
put to him, no matter how personal it
may be. About his work he is absolute
ly cold blooded.
He looks upon an execution as matter
of business, nothing else. In this he re-
minds one very much Of little Joe Atkin-
son, the old Tombs hangman, who was as
cheerful an executioner as one would
care to meet.
"My dear sir, I 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.
"I am simply the instrument Of the law.
I work the machinery by which the State
of New York takes the lives of murder
ers."
Davis is little gray haired man of 60.
Ask New York politician who is the
hardest man to find in the city and he
will tell you Tim Sullivan. Ask State
official at Albany, especially Superinten-
dent of Prisons Collins, who is the hard
est 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 maintaining resi-
dence in given locality for any length
of time and rarely letting any one know
where he is.
Every once in while he appears sud-
denly in Albany, maps out his work for
the next few months, and then goes away
again, whittier nobody knows. he can
be absolutely depended upon, however, to
put in an appearance 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. It has tried repeatedly to buy
his patents, but he will not sell. If he
should die there are probably plenty of
men who would be able to work his ap-
paratus, but it would be more or less of
an experiment, even if an electrician will
ing to do the work could be found.
| Davis mysterious movements are at
tributed BY some to fear of assassination.
Davis was asked about this recently and
laughed heartily. he receives 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, outside
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 signal turns on the current. He
never leaves the switch after the first
shock until the man in the chair Is ott1c-
tally declared dead.
Very naturally, some people have an
aversion to Davis because he is the state
executioner. Far from being annoyed by
this, Davis is rather amused.
At recent execution Davis took din
ner at hotel near the prison. Several
regular boarders at the hotel refused to
sit at the table with him, preferr1ng to
wait until he was through.
Davis calmly ate his dinner, reading
his paper the while, and then smoked two
cigars while the hungry boarders waited
for him to get away.
Davis has no assistant. He does his
work alone, and, unpleasant as the work
may seem, he certainly does it WE'LL
New York Sun.
You Know What You Are Taking
When YOU take Groves Tasteless Chill
Tonic because the formula is plainly
| nrinted on eyery bottle showing that 1t Is