The Central Glamorgan Gazette, and General, Commercial, and Agricultural Advertiser. — 1891-12-11 (Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, Wales)

SING SING.  STATANNNT BY AN NYE-WITNEBB.  Dalziel's New York correspondent says :—One of the witnesses of the execution of the wife murderer Loppy, by electricity, at Sing Sing prison states that shortly after eleven o'clock Warden Brown, tICCOM panted by several witnesses, went to the condemned man's cell and read the death warrant. He listened without any evidence of emotion, and after the reading quietly resumed his seat on his cot. The warden with the wilneases then went to the execution chamber, which was the seine as that used in July twit. The electrical apparatus and the currents were then tested. Head-keeper Connanghton went to the cell and summoned Loppy. The prisoner came out, accompanied by Chasidim', Edgerton. Loppy was dressed in a new suit, lie was followed by two keepers. The warden said," Sit down, Loppy," and lie quietly took his seat in the death chair, to which the keepers strapped him. The right leg of his trousers was then slit up, and one electrode was applied to the bare skin and the other to his forehead. These preparations did not occupy more than two minutes. Dr. .BieDinalii then raised his hand, and Mr. Davis, the electrician, made a downward motion, causing a rasping sound UM the switch closed. This was a signal to the man in the closet behind the chair to turn on the current. Instantly the body of the condemned man stiffened against the straps, which creaked as they streched from the strain, Mr. McDonald held a stop-watch and suddenly rallied his hands. Mr. Davis pulled the lever, the body settled back in a state of collapse, and Dr. Ward squirted salt water from a syringe upon the electrodes. The victim'd respiration was noisy and painful. Mr. McDonald again raised his hand, the lever was again turned, and the body again strained the straps. The lever was reversed and the body settled hack, the respiration being less loud. The electrodes were wetted and the current reapplied. When it was cut off for the third time Loppy's breast was bared, and Messrs. McDonald and Ward placed their ears to his chest snd declared that the heart had ceased to beat. The thermometer was then pressed against his legs and the temperature noted. When the straps of the alectrodes were unfastened the places of contact were found to be shrivelled and blistered as by a hot iron. There was no smoking or smell of burning flesh. Two keepers lifted the body and carried it to a hack room, where it was laid on a table. The Maims were removed, and the akin was found to be purple about the neck and scalp. There were blisters on the cheeks and temple, and the right leg below the knee presented a Bandar appearance. The akin was raised and wrinkled, and in places folded over. In one place it was :urn away. The pupil of the victim's tingle eye was contracted, and the eyebrows were tinged. In other places the marks of the draps were visible. The opinion of the gentleMilli furnishing the above details was that electrocu:Mu, from what he had seen, was preferrable to slinging. lie said that Loppy was unconscious from the moment of the first contact. The laboured respiration was due to the expanded cheat involuntarily expelling the air. While it required three contacts to destroy the vital action it was evilent that the death was painless. The witnesses agreed that it was not so shocking a spectacle as that man dying slowly by strangulation.