The first person in America to be tried, convicted and publicly
hanged for murder was among the 102 pilgrims who arrived on the
Mayflower in 1620. The practice astounded the Indians but to the
settlers hanging was accepted . . . as natural an occurrence
as breathing or sleeping.
Later on, in an attempt to hasten death, the drop or trap was
introduced. The prisoner was taken up on a platform, the noose
adjusted around his neck and then the floor upon which he was standing
was pulled from beneath him, allowing him to drop for a distance
supposed to be sufficient to break his neck. But hangings were often
bungled.
There were a number of inexpert hangings in New York State
where the death was often a cruel process of slow strangulation, a
gruesome spectacle of brutal, unspeakable horror. Yet public hangings
were well attended. Crowds of hundreds, eager to satisfy their
curiosity with an excuse to see justice done and to ease the day-to-
day drudgery that characterized their existence, collected to witness
the show. Hangings, although morbid, were also exciting.
Over the years as the country grew, public attitudes changed.
Large masses of people, aware of the basically barbarous nature of
hanging as a method of execution, began to feel that hangings belonged
to a past age. The movement for the abandonment of public executions
began in the l83Os. Many citizens expressed a belief that the condemned had the right to die swiftly and with what dignity that could
be mustered.
The death penalty became a controversial issue. Members
of the Society of Friends and other organizations advocated abolishment of capital punishment altogether. However the majority of the
people felt that death was the only answer for the offense of murder,
taking the life of the offender had always been the ultimate sanction
The public continued to experience frustration, fear, anger, and rage
when a vicious, incomprehensible crime occurred and the customary punishment
of death by hanging was to continue for several decades.
The problem of finding a substitution of some method of execution
more humane, more tidy, and less gruesome than the hangman's
noose was researched for many years. An amazing sequence of events
followed before the substitution of a scientific new device dubbed
"The Electric Chair" replaced the gallows in Auburn Prison. The invention had a curious and not altogether altruistic history.
In reality legislation changing the method of execution in New
York State from hanging to electrocution can be attributed more to
forthright competition between the two major suppliers of electrical
power in that era than to any concerted effort by government to find
more humane method of carrying out the death penalty.
[Image selection & caption by NYCHS webmaster] In l886 George Westinghouse, an inventor, engineer and business
man, pioneered the use of high voltage alternating current electricity.
Almost immediately there was fierce competition between the two rival
electric companies. Battling over the relative merits of direct and
alternating current for home use, ‘both companies resorted to propaganda
in various forms to take their case to the American people.
In its earliest stages of use, electricity had shown how powerful
it can be if not used with great caution. Several accidents
involving the loss of human life occurred due to ignorance, carelessness
or other inadvertence. The public in general was fearful of this
new source of power.
Hoping to benefit from this fear, a "DC" company staged a
traveling exhibit which was designed to demonstrate the dangers of
"AC" to the public. First a cat was led to the current - and promptly
and dramatically electrocuted.
Next a dog was sacrificed and finally
a horse was brought in. It too soon died. Experimenters Doctor Carlos
McDonald and Doctor Alphonse David Rockwell had found that a current
of 1,000 volts was sufficient to kill a horse instantly when it formed
a living connection between the electrodes of a Westinghouse dynamo.
The message got across to those interested in capital punishment
that electric current when controlled could kill a human being.
It seemed that such a death would he both painless and instantaneous.
[Image selection & caption by NYCHS webmaster] It was at his request that Senator McMillan of Buffalo introduced
the bill in the 1888 legislature creating a commission to seek
"The most humane and approved method of carrying into effect the
sentence of death.
Doctor Southwick played a leading role in lobbying
for the law. Elbridge T. Gary of New York city was the leading figure
on the commission which decided upon the use of electricity.
On June 4, 1888, Governor David B. Hill signed legislation which
established electrocution as the method of executing death sentences
passed for all crimes of murder committed after Jan. 1, 1889 in New
York State. The law provided for solitary confinement of the condemned
while awaiting electrocution, for the disposal of the body by burial
in quicklime, and forbade newspapers from publishing any of the details of
the execution.
David Bennet Hill was called "Governor-Senator" (mostly by his enemies, which were legion both in and out of his own party). The powerful Democrat had the state legislature elect him US Senator in January 1891 for a term starting in March but didn't take his seat until his gubernatorial term ended the following January.
The Senate web bio (to which the above image is attached) notes "he served from Jan. 7, 1892, to March 3, 1897 [and] was not a candidate for reelection in 1896."
Hill was a leader in Elmira politics, serving as city attorney and Assemblyman before the 1876 emergence of NY's first full-fledged reformatory there and as mayor during several of the institution's early years.
Elected Lieut. Governor in 1882, Hill became governor Jan. 6, 1885, upon Grover Cleveland's resigning to be sworn as President.
Gov. Hill was subsequently elected to two full terms, on Nov. 3, 1885 and Nov. 6, 1888. It was during his second full term as governor that he set in motion a series of official actions leading to establishing electrocution as the method for state executions.
Early in his Senate career, he was persuaded to once again run for governor. His foes charged his 1894 gubernatorial bid was part of his strategy to win the White House as depicted in an Oct. 13, 1894, Harper's Weekly cartoon. For a full version of the cartoon and more details on that unsuccessful candidacy, visit the excellent education-oriented New York Times "On This Day" series page for
October 13, 1894 featuring text and a cartoon image from the visually fascinating and historically informative HarpWeek site.
[Image selection & caption by NYCHS webmaster] Kemmler's execution was delayed for a year and a half after
the enactment of the law by Kemmler’s attorneys. . . . . Kemmler's appeals [went all the way] up to the Supreme Court of the
United States which held that electrocution was not cruel and unusual
punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Electrical experts Snitzka, Rota and Resla, however, contended that it
was a cruel operation on moral grounds. They did not approve of any
experimentation with human guinea pigs. With no guidelines to go by, the electrical method by which
death was to be brought about was new and untried on humans.
Kemmler, an illiterate man, was a pioneer in the exploration of a necessarily
fatal region, a subject which proved beyond doubt that alternating
current will kill.
On Friday, August 6, l89O, William Kemmler was electrocuted at
Auburn Prison. He was the first man in the world to be put to death
in an electric chair. Charles Durston was warden of the prison and
there were 25 witnesses in the death chamber.
Of the actual electrocution of Kemmler, Dr. McDonald, President
of the State Commission on Lunacy, reported:
Kemmler was brought into
the execution room by the Warden and introduced to the witnesses who
were seated in a semi-circle, facing the death chair. On entering the
room he appeared strikingly calm and collected.
In fact, his manner
and appearance indicated a state of subdued elation, as if gratified
at being the central figure of the occasion; his low order of
intelligence evidently rendering him unable to fully appreciate the gravity
of the situation. He was given a chair nearby the death chair, and
on being seated, in response to the Warden's introduction said,
"Well, I wish everyone good luck in the world, and I think I
am going to a good place and the papers have been saying a lot of
stuff about me that wasn't true. That's all I have to say."
At the Warden's bidding he then arose, removed his coat and.
without the least display of emotion or nervousness, took his seat
in the death chair, calmly submitting to the adjustment of the
electrodes and binding straps, himself aiding the proceedings by
suggestions and fixing his body and limbs in proper position.
Observing the nervousness of the assistants who were adjusting
the straps, he admonished them not to hurry, and said he wanted
them to "be sure that everything is all right." He pressed his bare
back firmly against the spinal electrode and requested that the
head electrode be "pressed down harder" on the top of his head. from
which the hair had been imperfectly clipped before he entered the
room. At the same time, he remarked that he desired to perform his
part to the best of his ability.
The preparations terminated with a final moistening of the
electrodes, the whole occupying at most, three or four minutes.
Everything being seemingly ready, at 10:19 a.m., the Warden signaled his
assistants in charge of the switches in the adjoining room to turn
the lever which closed the circuit and instantly sent the deadly
current through the prisoner's body.
In order to reverse the judgment of the highest court of the state of NY, we should be compelled to hold that it had committed an error so gross as to amount in law to a denial by the state of due process of law to one accused of crime, or of some right secured to him by the constitution of the U.S. We have no hesitation in saying that this we cannot do upon the record before us. The application for a writ of error is denied.
The full opinion by Chief Justice Fuller is available on a number of website. Simply Google using as your search term: 136 U.S. 436, 10 S.Ct. 930 In re KEMMLER
Chief Justice Fuller, who hailed from Maine, had managed Stephen Douglas' presidential campaign against Abe Lincoln in 1860. He was named to the court by Grover Cleveland. This case came before the top court because Associate Justice Sam Blatchford, a former Auburn law firm attorney, granted a stay and suggested the full court air the issue. He had been appointed by Republican Chester Arthur.
[Image selection & caption by NYCHS webmaster] At the end of seventeen seconds Kemmler was pronounced dead
and the contact was broken. The condition of rigidity was instantly
succeeded by one of complete muscular relaxation. The body remained
motionless and apparently lifeless for approximately one-half
minute, when there occurred a series of slight spasmodic movements of
the chest, accompanied by the expulsion of a small amount of
purplish foam which dribbled from the mouth.
There was no evidence of a
return of’ consciousness or of bodily sensation; but in view of the
possibility that life was not wholly extinct beyond resuscitation,
and in order to take no risk of such a contingency, the current was
ordered to be reapplied.
This time contact was maintained for about
seventy seconds when a small volume of smoke was seen to issue from
the point of application of the spinal electrode. Willie's entire
back was burned black. He had. been literally roasted alive on that
fateful Friday,
An autopsy was held about three hours after death. Doctor E.C.
Spitzka, a witness who also assisted in the autopsy, and Nicola Tesla,
an electrical expert whose earlier discoveries made possible the
construction of the electric chair, contended after examining the body
that electrocution was a cruel operation and a form of torture. They
were opposed to ever again using the chair to electrocute another
human being.
John Fitzhume
William O. Taylor
John Johnson
Lucius R. Wilson
Guiseppe Constantino
Robert G. Powley
Charles Burgess
Oscar E. Rice
Leon F. Czolgosz alias Fred Neiman
Fred Krist
John Truck
Clarence Egnor
Frank White alias Harry Howard
Antonio Giorgio
Guiseppe Versacia
Henry Waverly Manzer
Carlo Giardi
Charles Bonier
Chester Gillette
Andrea Delvarno
William S. Brasch
Salvatore Randazzio
Mary Farmer
Pacy Hill
William Scott
Guiseppe Santucci
Theodore Rizzo
Earl B. Hill
William Gilbert
Joseph Nacco
Dominick DePasquale
Ralph Friedman & Jacob Kuhn
John Maruszewski
James Williams
Raeffele Ciaverella
Michael Goslinski
George Coyer & Guiseppe DeGioia
Guiseppe Cino
Vincent Buonemsegno
Guiseppe Cino
David Dunn
Charles Sprague [Information box by NYCHS webmaster] "After all," he wrote, "compared with hanging, in which death is
frequently produced by strangulation, with every indication of
conscious suffering for an appreciable time on the part of the victim,
execution is infinitely preferable." And in l890 it was the surest,
quickest, most efficient and least painful method that had yet been
devised.
Warden Durston in his report of the electrocution revealed that
the machinery and electrical appliances were repeatedly tested in
Various ways. "Live animals were subjected to the electrical current
under the supervision of medical and electrical experts," he reported,
"and any other tests that were deemed advisable were put into operation."
Warden Durston added this interesting comment: "The people in
this locality took no extraordinary interest in this matter and
deemed to have no concern when the execution would occur. The same was
true of the prison population. The execution occurred at a time when
the convicts were in their cells, 6:40 a.m., and from all appearances
and indications they had no interest or thought of what had taken
place. The demeanor and actions of prisoners on that day did not differ
in any respect from their regular conduct."
The controversy continued between opponents and supporters until
the second electrocution was conducted on May l8, 1892. Certain minor
adjustments to the chair and changes in the overall operation were
made during the interim. The routine was practiced many times and the
chair was securely fastened to the floor.
Joseph I. Tice, known as "Dare Devil Joe" had murdered his wife,
Agnes Leggett, in Rochester by stabbing her to death on July 11, l89l.
He had previously stabbed her and done a term in the penitentiary.
On his release, she refused to live with him so he stabbed her again,
causing her death. A Civil War veteran, he was 63 years old at the time of his
electrocution .
He was sentenced to die at Auburn Prison during the week of
January l8, 1892. He was received at the prison on December 12, l89l.
A stay was granted on appeal but the Court of Appeals affirmed the
decision of the lower court and he was sentenced to die on May 18, 1892.
Tice entered the death chamber at 6:35 A.M. At 6:39 the current,
1700 volts, was turned on and held for 15 seconds. With half-second
intervals three additional shocks were given and he was declared dead
at 6:40 o'clock. There was no murmur, contortion or odor and the
electrocution was pronounced most successful. As the mask was put on
he declared:"Look out there boys, you'll break my nose."
There had been no panic, no confusion, no nervousness among the
prison staff. Everything was handled quite professionally.
The supporters of the electrical execution law were satisfied that
the substitution of the dynamo for the gallows was a change for the better. In
effect, electrocution was better than hanging. It was an easier way to die.
The use of manufactured lightning to take the place of the
hangman’s rope for dispatching condemned murderers was to be a reality for
many years to come. The legislation which had established electrocution
as a method of executing death sentences for capital crimes remained
in force in New York State for seventy-five years. Accurate records
were maintained when condemned persons were sent to three prisons
for execution according to the county they came from.
In the interest of economy, on April 9, l914, Governor Glynn
signed the Emerson Bill which provided that thereafter all executions
would be conducted at one prison only. The last .
electrocution at Clinton took place in 1913; the last execution at Auburn
occurred in 1916. All subsequent electrocutions were conducted at Sing
Sing Prison in Ossining. The last person put to death there was a black
man, Eddie Lee Mays, who was executed on August 15, 1963.
In all, 695 electrocutions have been conducted in New York State.
There were 614 deaths at Sing Sing, 55 at Auburn, and 26 at Clinton.
A total of 684 men and nine females were put to death before the death
renal was abolished except in certain circumstances in June, 1965.
Only four persons were executed for crimes other than murder. Two
federal prisoners, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who died on June 19,
1953. were sentenced to die for the crime of espionage.
Not all victims of the chair were as calm and complacent as
William Kemmler, nor as fearless and stoical as Joseph Tice. Some
went wailing to death. Others, with trembling steps and weakened knees,
almost collapsed as they neared the chair. Some even refused to leave
their cells on death row and needed the assistance of prison keepers
to make the journey to their ultimate end.
Some electrocutions attracted great deal of public attention
while others were less noticed. Perhaps the most famous person to be
electrocuted for murder in New York was Leon F. Czolgosz who shot
President William McKinley in Buffalo on September 6, 1901. Shot twice, the
President did not die until eight days later -- from blood poisoning
brought about by a bullet which caused gangrene of the pancreas.
Leon was indicted for first degree murder. He was put on trial
on September 23rd. four days after the President was buried. The trial
itself lasted less than two days, actually a total of eight hours and
twenty-six minutes, including the time it took to impanel the
jury. The jurors brought in a verdict of guilty after only thirty-
four minutes of deliberation. Leon showed no emotion when the verdict
was read. No appeal was ever filed.
Prison records at Auburn State Prison indicate that Leon F.
Czolgosz, alias Fred Nieman, was executed at twelve minutes thirty
seconds after seven A.M. on the morning of October 29, 1901. He was
28 years old. He went to death unfalteringly and unaided. He died
unrepentant, unwept, and unhonored.
Relatives or friends often claimed the corpse of the executed prisoner and
made private arrangements for the disposition of the remains.
Unclaimed bodies were buried in quick lime by officers of the prison
accordance with law. Interments were made on prison grounds or in public
Potter’s Fields.
Czolgosz’ body was unclaimed by any relatives. He was buried
in Fort Hill Cemetery, Auburn, N.Y. on the evening of the day he was
executed. A carboloy of sulphuric acid was poured into the coffin
after it had been lowered into the ground. The grave was then filled
with fifteen bushels of quick lime. A twenty-four hour guard was placed
over the grave for three days to prevent vandalism or body snatching.
In 1974 New York State amended its penal law to require the
mandatory imposition of the death penalty for persons convicted of
Murder in the first degree. The legislation was vetoed by then
Governor Hugh Carey. He had a preference for a sentence of life
imprisonment instead of the death penalty. His successor, Governor Mario
Cuomo, holds a similar view but he advocates a sentence of life
imprisonment without the possibility of the inmate ever being granted
parole. In each of the past sixteen years the Legislature has passed
a death penalty bill but has not been able to muster enough votes to
override the governor’s veto.
Today a public that has been terrorized by many murderers and
brutal assassins during the past twenty-five years finds the current
level of violent crime intolerable. The fear and rage experienced by
an earlier generation when a vicious incomprehensible crime occurred
continues to be a frustrating experience one hundred years later. In
these angry times, many clamor for a return of the death penalty for
the offense of murder in New York State.
John N. Miskell |