The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-11-04
MEN WHO ELECTROCUTES.

MEN WdU ELECIhUCU1 LED.
A Person of Mystery. Has Put Seven
ty-four Persons to Death.
When he killed the Van Wormer
bows in the state prison at Dannemora
last week State Electrician Edward
+. Davis finished his seyenty-fourth
execution by electricity. OF these
seventy-one occurred in this state,
two in Massachusetts, and one in Ohio,
says the New York Sun.
This man, who invented the electric
chair, owns the patents on it and is
the only man who can oe absolutely
depended upon to conduct an execu-
tion without a hitch, is remarkable in
other respects. Thus, whenever ne
goes he fiocks by himself. He rarely
speaks to anybody unless be is spoken
to first and then he is found to be a
most affable person, more than anxious
to talk about himself and his work.
He will cheerfully answer any ques-
tion put to him, no matter how per-
sonal it may be. About his work he
is absolutely cold blooded. He looks
upon an execution asa matter Of busi-
ness, nothing else. In this he re-
minds ore very much Of little Joe
Atkinson, the old Tombs hangman,
who was as cheerful an eXecutioner as
one would care to meet.
my dear sir, DID 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 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 murdererS. DAVIS Is a
little gray-haired man Of 6). ASK a
New York politician who is the hard
est man to find in the city and be will
tell you Tim Sullivan. Ask a state
official at Albany, especially Superin-
tendent Of Prisons Collins, who is the
hardest man in the state to find and
be will tell you Davis.
Davis is a 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. Every
once: in while be appears suddenly 10
Albany, maps out his work for the
next few months, and then goes away
again, whittier nobody knows. He
can be absolutely depended upon how
ever to put in appearance at the state
prison where there is to be an execu-
tion several days before it is time 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 call.
The state prison pays Davis $3.50 for
each man be kills. 1t has tried re-
reatedly to buy bis patents, but be
will not sell. II be should die there
arr probably plenty Of men who would
be able to work his apparatus, but 1t
would be more or less an experiment,
even if an electrician willing to do
the work could be found. Davis
mysterious movements are attributed
by some to a fear Of assassination.
Davis was asked about this recently
and laughed heartily. he receives
many threatening letters, he said,
but he 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 works in the
death chamber, outside Of preparing
the apparatus. is very slight. He
looks on while the keepers strap the
men in, then puts bis hand on the
switch and 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 e1ecutioner. Far from being an.
noyed by this, Davis is rather amused.
At a recent execution Davis took din
ner at a hotel near the prison. NJ.
Adolph Godot, French physicist
refused to sit at the table with him,
prefering to wait until he was
through. Davis calmly ate his din
ner, 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 bis work alone, and unpleasant
as the work may seem, he certainly
does it well.