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Show News Summary. Some Comments on tlio Advance Ad-vance in silver- The First Execution by Electricty. A Great Strike on the New York Central. KEMMLER KILLED BV ELECTRICITY. ELECTRIC-ITY. Auburn' Aug. 6 When the tie was arranged, ar-ranged, he sat down in the electric chair as quietly as though he was sitting down to dinner. Warden Durston stuud on the right and Gen Nieling, of Albany, on the left. They began immediately to adjust the straps, the condemned man holding up his ai.ns so as to give them every assistance. When the straps had been adjusted about the body, the arms were lasteued down ayd then the warden war-den leaned over and paried Kemmler's feet so as to bring the legs near the legs of the chair. While the straps were being arranged Keinmler said: "Take your time; don't , be in a hunv.but be sure that everything is all right." But it was not fear that Keinmler felt; il was rather a certain pride in the exactness exact-ness of the experiment. He seemed to have greater interest in its success than those who had made preparation max. in reality there were about seve ity-three ity-three second, in the interval which elapied between the moment when the fust sound issued front Kemmler's lips until a response of the signal came from tha dyiiam ronn. It cams with the same suddeness that marked the first shock which passed through Kem-m'er's Kem-m'er's D dy. Tire sound which had hoi-r hoi-r fied the listeners about the chair were cut utf sharply, as the body once more became rigid and a si my ooze still dropped drop-ped lrm tne mouth and si owlv down the heard and on to the grey vest. Twice were there iwitchings of the body as the electricians in the next room threw the current on and oil'. There was to be no mistake this lime about the killing. The dynamo was run up to the highest peed, and again a lull current ot 2000 volis were sent through the body, Hw long it was kept in action no one knows. To the excited group about the chair it seemed an interminable tune. Dr. Daniel Dan-iel who looke I at his watch excitedly, and who thought he had an approximate approxi-mate idea of the time at least, s.ud it was four and a hall minutes in all. The warden's assistant, who stood over the dynamo, said on the second signal the machinery ran only 3 minutes altogether. alto-gether. No one was anxious to stop- All dreaded the responsib lity of otic-sing to I them in a chance to revive.or give again at least those appearances of returning animation which startled and sickened the witness a few minutes before. Aa the anxious group stood silently watching watch-ing the body, suddenly there arose from it a white vapor bearing with it the pungent pung-ent and sickening odor of a b rdy burn- lor il aim who wcic wanning ii. ijiugies : to its final, fatal conclusion. When the straps had been adjusted, the warden war-den placed his hand on Kemmler's head and held it against a rubber cushion which ran down the back of the chair. Kemmler's eyes were turned toward the opposite side of the room; before they ; had followed the warden in his move ments about. Deputy Veiling unfastened the thumb ' screw switch and began to lower il so that the rubber cup which had s.iturat- ed sponges in would press against the l. top of Kemmlei's head. The waideu K assisted in tne preparations by holding Kemmler's head. Kemmlsr said. ; "Oh, 1 w mid, better press that down I further, 1 gues-; press that down." Ct i the head p ece was undamped and pressed fut ihei d wn. Warden Durston took in his hand the leather harness wiii:h was to be adjusted to Keminlei's head. It was a muzzle or broad leather strap, w.ncli went across , the foreliead, and a chin si rap puss I f down a.;.iiust the nose of Kemiuler uniil it flattened it down slightly over n is "v. lace. The harness was put in place. The dynamo in the machine shop was .. running at a good speed and the volt v meter on the w ill registerei a little more than a thousand volts. The uar- f. tien turned to the assembled doctois, ' those immediatelv around the execution f chair, and said. Do you, doctois, sav il is all right?" At the warden's question. Dr. Felt ' stepped forwaid with a long syringe. i:i - his hand, and deftly wetted two sponges, V"v whiC'i were at electro Jes, one on the top . of the head and the other at the base ol t i' 'A the spine. Tiie water which he put on ,J' Jhem was imoren ited with salt. Dr Spiz- ina ansW-eted the w.Ki,'iiutu4ii iilx " . k. .'ill riln ." umieh was echtMsd bv tug. Again there were cries to stop the current, and again the warden sprang to the door and gave a quick order to his assistants. The current stopped; and again there was a relaxation of the body. No doubt the current did its work, if not well, completely. Dr. hell who stood at the side of a special cjrrespon-detit cjrrespon-detit ol the Associated Press, turned and said: Well, there is no doubt about one thing. The man never suffered an iota of pain. In after consultation other physicians expressed the same belief. There was some mitigation of the horrors hor-rors of the situation to believe this, but mitigation is extiemely slight. When j it developed on 'another point, the same doctois disagreed materially. Was Kemmlerdead when his chest moved and his lips gave forth these strange, gastlv sounds? was he breathing or was i there involuntary and phenomenal ac- tion ol tne cncsi m mules? Some ol the l eminent experts in attendance said to 1 the associatedpress cot respondent while the body was still warm in the chair that there was nodoubt there were sins ol reluming animation:, that respiration (for respiration they believed it to bnj was growing strong, and that in time, if the current had not been turned on again' he would have revived. Others, among them Dr. Spitazk, stated with equal positiveness the conviction that the first shock killed Kcmrnkr instantly. Drs- Daniel and Southwick, "f ilheis of the system of el, ctricide" believed Keinmler dead, but they th nk the cur-1 cur-1 rent should have bssni continued longer ' t ban seventy setpu'ds, which was official U'lTie of the first contact. There is no 'i way in which a positive deteiminatinn others about him. R-iady," said Durston again and then "good-bye." He stepped to the door and through an opening said to some one in the next room, but whom will probably never be kn iwn with certainty, certain-ty, "everything is ready." There was an almost immediate response, and at 6: 42i the electric current was turned on. There was a sudden convulsion of the frame in the chair and a spasm went over Kemmler from head to foot. He was confined by straps and springs that held him firmlv, so that no limb or other part ol the bodv stirred more than a small traction of an inch from its resting place- . . , , The twitching that the muscles of the face underwent gave it for a moment the expression of pain, but no cry escaped es-caped from the lips, which were free to move at will; 110 sound came forth to suggest that consciousness lasted more than an infinitely, small fraction el a second, beyond the calculation of the human mind. The bodv remained in a rigid position for seventeen seconds. Dr McDonald held stop watch in his hand, and as the seconds flew by he noted their passage. Spitzka, too, looked look-ed at a stop watch, and as the tenth second sec-ond expired he cried out "stop." "Stop" cried jther voices about. The warden turned to the doorway and called o t "stop" to the man at the lever. A quick movement of the arm and the electric current was switched off. There was a relaxation of the body in the chair. "He's dead," said Spitzka calmly. Auburn, Aug, 6 -Dr. Hatch was bending over the bodv locking at t le exposed skin. Suddenly he cried out sharply: "Dr McDonald, see that rup- .1 p o iciiwini iiii9uisifi s . The autopsy began at 9 o'clock.' It was found when the body was spread out on a table a very severe rigor had set in, There was relaxation, and it was with difficulty the corpse was SLraighlened out. On examination it was found that the second electrode had buined through the skin and into the flesh at the base of the spine, making a scar nearly five inches in diameter. The heart, lungsand other organs were taken out and found in a good and healthy condition. The brain was also taken out, and it, too, will be carefully examined. Arm-UN, N. Y., Aug-. 7. Warden Durston stated this afternoon that the remains of Kemmler still lie in the room in the prison where the autopsy was held. He had not decided where the remain, will he buried. Following is decription of the electrical chair in which Kemmlerwa. executed: l'atened to the back is an adjustable figure 4 whioh can be raised or towered so as to come down over the head of the condemned. Th. technique of the thing is very simple. Through the 4 there is a hole, aud through this passes a rubber tube containing a rod of steel or copper to which a wet sponge is fastened. This sponge will touch the crown of t'le condemned man's head. Another pipe, with webbing inside and a sponge, passe, up through the .eat as to touch the base of the .p'nQ, when the man is strapped firmly in his sear. This was accomplished accom-plished by the use f several straits, one passing around the chest, another arouud the abdomen, which drew the webbing igainst the .pine, while the arms were firmly strapped to those of the chair. The feet rested rest-ed on a comfortable foot-rest, after the fashion of those iu use in a barber's shop. Indeed, the strong resemblance of this instrument of death to a barber's chair has already caused the prison officials to speak of e'e tro .a ion in the roughly humurious way as a baluiieaded shave. The electricity was generated by a dvnnmo near to tne power room a thousand feet awaj fr m th. place of execution. Th re is nothing uncomfortabl. about the chair save the deadly currant that goes with it, and if death by the latter be as sudden and painless as the advocates advo-cates affirm, it will certainty be the most merciful means of capital punishment "Kemmler was dead within a second after the alternating currant was turned on," said Harold Brown of New York to a Louisville Cournal-Journal reoorter. He is the man who. after the New York legislature passed the law to execute by electricity, made experiments and placed in position the deadly dynamo at Auburn. When I asked about the execution. Brown said: "In regard to thc Kemmler exe-usion. 1 will say that experiments with animals .how that one tacend's contact con-tact with the alternating currant is opened before the expiration ot twenty-five or thirty seconds, the muscular mus-cular rigidity caused by the passage of the currant through the mus :1c. wilt be foliowed by a eorre. ponding relaxation, which may produce a spasmodic explution of breath ( and attempts at respiration. If the current i. kept on more than 30 seconds there is no movement whatever of the muscles when the current is cut off. "Kemmler was killed instantly and painlessly within with-in the first second, but as the currant was opened(tak-en opened(tak-en off) before three seconds had passed there were reflex motions of the muscles, which frightened some of the attendants into thinking that he was Dot dead." "How do you account for the burns on Kemmler'. bodvt" "It seem, to tne," replied Brown, "that there was not sufficient moisture on electrodes. Dr. Louis Bulch of Albany, executive officer of the state boaid of health, who was one of the witnesses at the executiou of Kemmler. said: "I do not considor the failure of the first shock to kill Kemmler any proof that this method ot execution is necefaritv a failuie, for from the lirjrt sho:a thc prisoner was vir-I tu: )ly dead- ;te suffered ml am and did not regain j consciousness. 1 U-.ink there should be an elect-rian elect-rian appointed, w!ie would anend to all -executions, and have cnarye ol thc elecirital at,aratus. under tiie superviswii of the officer designated by law to c irry thc seuleuce into effect' ture. In a moment uoctors spuzica and McDonald had bent over and looking look-ing w ltT) Hitch was pYiiiting at a 'i tie red spot 011 the hand that rested on the rijrhi arm ol the chair. The index finger of the hand had curved backward as the muscles contracted and scrnped-a small hole in the skin at .the base of the thumb on the back ot the hand. There was nothing strange in this alone, but t ie little rapture was dropping blood. "Turn the current on instantly man not dead," cried Spitzka. Faces now grew wh:te and f inns fell back from the chair. The warden turned turn-ed to the doorway and cried. "Turn on the current. But the current could not be turned on. When the signal had come the operator op-erator had pressed a little button which gave the signal to the engineer to stop the dynamo. The dynamo was almost at a standstill and the v.t meier registered regist-ered an ainust iinperceptable current. The operators spiang to the button ai.d gave a sharp, quick signal. There ua a rapid response, U.it it was not quick enough to anticipitate the signs of reviving re-viving ruiiScioMsiiess. As the gr.uip h irrnr striken-wltnf-st siood helplessly bv, all eves were fixed on the cum: Kemmler's lips began to grip and sp.itle and 111 a moment more his cnest moved and from his muiith came a heavy, sten-toii sten-toii us totiiid, qu cke.Hiis and mcreas i wiiheveiv respiration. There was n Tvoice but that of the warden crying t 1 the I'peiat or to turn on tiie curieiit, and a wheezing sound, hall grown, which f need itself through, tightly closed lips sounded through the still chamber wi;h ghastly distinctness. Som4 uf the witnesses wit-nesses turned away frjm the sight and one fainted. It seemed a long time reaching a cli- |
