Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-01-10

principles" DR.. w. G. Taylor gives q
case in which the subject was com.
pletely revived, and weight min
utes after the electrocution his pulse
was 13O, full and vigorous" The un-
fortunate man was again placed in the
chair however, and another contact OF
forty seconds was made. AS DR.. Tay-
lor says: 1T Is certainly a grave
question whether the post -mortem ex-
aminations should not always be de-
layed until the matter of death be in
disputably settled"
DR.. Gibbons gives a case in which
life returned after the electrocution
was performed; another physician
quotes two cases. Still another says Il
am thoroughly convinced that many of
the men who have been pronounced
electrocuted in New York state have
been placed upon the dissecting table
conscious Of what was going on and
what was about to take place."
This hardly seems like capital pun
ishment; 1t is more like human vivi-
section-yes, torture In its most refin-
ed form! Is this the best form of cap
ital punishment we can devise?
1t is true that other physicians do
not share the views just expressed.
D'Arsonvals facts" are now question:
Sd-even shown to be probably untrue.
In the executions, as carried out to-
day, there Is no bungling, no burning
of flesh, no tearing of straps. Consci-
BUSINESS is doubtless obliterated at
once, even though life may not be. No
sense Of pain can be felt by the body
when the current Is turned on. 1t has
been proved that 1t takes about a fifth
Of a second for the brain to appreciate
a sensation, and one twenty eighth Of
a second to telegraph that impression:
and as nerve force travels only about
100 feet second, while the velocity Of
electricity Is millions Of times greater
than this, the brain has doubtless no
time in which to appreciate the sense
Of pain.
Again DR.. r. T. Irvine, in writing on
the subject says:
Il have been present and seen sixty
four persons put to death in this state
(New York;, and there is no doubt in
my mind whatsoever but that all those
men were absolutely killed by the elec-
trio shock and that death is instantan-
eous. The changes produced by the
electric shock are such that resucita-
tion, in my opinion. Is absolutely i'm
possible. The amount Of fresh blood
found in the Uranium In all these six
ty-four cases have seen in itself
would preclude any possibility Of saw
Ing a man. Then you have the pate
chial hemorrhages in the brain tissues.
They change certain nerve cells in the
brain. There Is also a change in the
structure of the blood after the cleo
trical shock. Any one Of these, in my
opinion, would prove fatal, but when
you have them all In each case as /
have noticed in autopsies, death is un-
questionable"
Thus, opinions differ, the weight Of
authority being seemingly on the side
of those who say that, II electrocution
is properly performed, the patient will
not recover. But, as opposed to this,
there are undoubted cases on record In
which a person has received even a
greater voltage than that usually ad-
ministered, and for a longer period OF
time and yet recovered. AS an example
of this need only cite the famous case
of John Branda, who received a cur
rent of 2,400 volts for nearly fifteen
minutes, yet lived to tell the tale and
escaped with severe burns only. He
was, Of course, completely unconscious
during all this time. Until such cases
are disposed Of the question is GER
tainly an open one, and is not settled
as many seem to think. So we may
ask again: Does electrocution Kill?