Show THE FIRST VICTIM THE first execution by electricity that ever occurred in modern times at least leas will twill take plate place in new york some time during the coming week the precise date is not known and will not be until it is all over the condemned himself will be informed of it only on the morning of the execution but he will be given time for such religious exercises as he may desire before the death pen alty is inflicted these being over he will be strapped upon a reclining chair very much like that used by barbers excepting that it will be destitute of cushions or ornamentation and very much stronger the similarity will be further carried out in the matter of afoot a foot rest his shoes will have been removed and a pair containing a powerful sheet conductor connected by means of wires with the battery put on his hands bands and arms will be securely pinioned a black cap also contain containing ingA a conductor as its lining and connected like the shoes to the battery will be put on him a black curtain falling over his face and then at a given signal the electric switch will be turned a current of volts will pierce the brain and death will be instantaneous and painless there will be a stiffening of the body the least nervous flutter of the heart and no other perceptible demonstration of the invisible agen agency cys 6 work the victims name is william kemmler and on having the procedure explained to him he said mid he would rather be hanged a dozen times than go through that awful ordeal I 1 the necessity of executing a certain class of criminals has been recognized in all ages of the he world and among all its people it Is ia not only sanctioned but commanded by ably writ and the wisdom of such a provision is not now to be questioned those who would abolish capital punishment on humane or sentimental grounds are limited in number and do not greatly increase am the eknes and the people advance the safety of society through the example afforded no less leas than the effectual and eternal removal of the assassin demands it and one way or another it will be had even if the bible were silent on the subject to substitute close confinement for life as has been suggested would be to forsake the equities of the case altogether and while meting out a a lingering and therefore barbarous punishment instead of one that is swift and conclusive clu sive is at the same time inadequate and unequal while the death penalty prevails everywhere and is upheld by the most wholesome public sentiment the means of inflicting it and the causes for which it shall be inflicted are various the object has been at least in recent times and among civilized people to retain the punishment while reducing the sufferings and horrors of the situation to the mini mum this was the object of the new york lawmakers law makers in abolishing the rope and substituting the wire but the scheme is a failure before being tried so far as mitigating the mental sufferings of the condemned is concerned it if is hardly to be presumed that a penalty so anomalous so utterly fat at variance with Prec precedent Went and which increases the present and anticipated punishment tenfold by reason of its very uncertainty will long remain upon the statute books science has proper fields to operate in IA but experimenting with human I 1 life ife even when the life is forfeit is not one of them |