When and who invented the electric chair? Product of humanism. How a compassionate dentist came up with the “electric chair” Who was the inventor of the electric chair by profession?

At the end of the 19th century, Thomas Edison invented the incandescent lamp, which was a truly great invention that made it possible to use electricity to illuminate cities...

A dentist in Buffalo, New York named Albert Southwick thought electricity could be used in his medical practice as a pain reliever.
One day, Southwick saw one of the residents of Buffalo touch the exposed wires of an electric generator at the city power plant and die, as Southwick thought, almost instantly and painlessly.
This incident gave him the idea that electrocution could replace hanging as a more humane and quicker punishment.
Southwick first spoke with the head of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Colonel Rockwell, proposing the use of electricity to dispose of unwanted animals instead of drowning them (the method traditionally used).
Rockwell liked this idea.

In 1882, Southwick began experimenting on animals, publishing his results in scientific newspapers.
Southwick then showed the results to his influential friend, Senator David McMillan. Southwick stated that the main advantage of electrocution was that it was painless and quick.

MacMillan was committed to retaining the death penalty; he was attracted to this idea as an argument against the abolition of the death penalty, because this type of execution could not be called cruel and inhumane, therefore, supporters of the abolition of the death penalty would lose their most compelling arguments.
MacMillan relayed what he heard to New York Governor David Bennett Hill.

In 1886, the “Law for the creation of a commission to study and report on the most humane and acceptable method of carrying out the death penalty” was passed.
The commission included Southwick, Judge Matthew Hale and politician Eluridge Gerry.
The commission's conclusion, set out in a ninety-five page report, was as follows: best method The execution of a death sentence is execution using electricity.
The report recommended that the state replace hanging with the new kind executions.
Governor Hill signs the law on June 5, 1888, which was to take effect on January 1, 1889, marking the beginning of a new, humane punishment in the State of New York.

It remained to resolve the issue concerning the apparatus itself for carrying out the sentence and the question of what type electric current should be used: constant or variable.
It is worth considering the history associated with alternating and direct currents. How do they differ, and which current is more suitable for execution?
Long before Thomas Edison's invention, scientists from different countries worked on this subject, but no one succeeded in using electricity in Everyday life. Edison put into practice the theory developed before him.
Edison's first power plant was built in 1879; Almost immediately, representatives from different US cities went to the scientist.
Edison's DC system had its difficulties. Direct current flows in one direction. Innings direct current impossible over long distances, it was necessary to build power plants even to provide electricity to a medium-sized city.

The solution was found by the Croatian scientist Nikola Tesla. He developed the idea of using alternating current.
Alternating current can change direction several times per second, creating a magnetic field without losing electrical voltage.
AC voltage can be stepped up and down using transformers.
High voltage current can be transmitted over long distances with small losses, and then, through a step-down transformer, the electricity can be delivered to consumers.
Some cities used the alternating current system (but not Tesla's design), and this system attracted investors.

One such investor was George Westinghouse, famous for his invention of the airbrake.
Westinghouse intended to make the use of alternating current profitable, but Edison's direct current technology was more popular at the time. Tesla worked for Edison, but he did not pay attention to his developments, and Tesla quit.
He soon patented his ideas and was able to demonstrate them in action.
In 1888, Westinghouse bought forty patents from Tesla, and within a few years more than a hundred cities were using the alternating current system. Edison's enterprise began to lose ground. It became obvious that the AC system would replace the DC system.
However, Edison did not believe in this. In 1887, he began to discredit Westinghouse's system by requiring his workers to collect information on deaths caused by alternating current in hopes of proving that his system was safer for the public.

The Clash of the Titans, as the story is sometimes called, began when the question arose about the type of current that was to be used in the apparatus for the death penalty. Edison did not want his invention to be associated with death; he wanted alternating current to be used in the death penalty apparatus.

On June 5, 1888, the New York Evening Post published a letter from Harold Brown warning about the dangers of alternating current. This letter caused alarmed reactions in society. In the 1870s, Brown was an employee of Edison, and it can be assumed that this letter was registered. In 1888, Brown conducted a series of experiments on animals demonstrating the destructive power of alternating current. The experiments used two used alternators because Westinghouse refused to sell its generators. Experiments were carried out on several dozen dogs, cats, and two horses.

The speech of the respected scientist Thomas Edison before the commission to decide on the method of execution made a vivid impression. The legendary inventor convinced everyone present that death using electricity is painless and quick, of course, in the case of using alternating current. The commission had the choice to implement execution by lethal injection.
Lethal injection is considered more humane than electric chair. In the 20th century, it was precisely this that began to be used by almost all states in which there is the death penalty.

Perhaps many would not have suffered in the electric chair if there had not been competition between campaigns or Edison's convincing speech to the commission, although the main issue was that execution by lethal injection should be carried out with the help of doctors or by doctors themselves, which is impossible for obvious reasons.

The first execution took place on January 1, 1889.
For several decades after this event, this “unit” was called the Westinghouse chair or “Westinghoused”.

The next executions took place in the spring of 1891.
Four were executed for various crimes. The method of carrying out the sentence has been adjusted. The generator has become more powerful, the wires have become thicker. The second electrode was connected not to the spine, but to the arm.
These executions went more smoothly, and new method was accepted by public opinion.
The first “tester” of the innovation was a murderer named Kemmsler. For obvious reasons, he was unable to describe his feelings, but witnesses to the execution noted that 15 to 20 seconds after the first shock, the criminal was still alive.
I had to turn on a higher voltage current and for a longer time. For a long time and painfully, the “experiment” was brought “to the end.” This execution caused many protests from the American and world public.

And the technology of murder using the electric chair is as follows: the criminal is seated on a chair, tied to it with leather straps and secured at the wrists, ankles, hips and chest. Two copper electrodes are attached to the body, one on the leg, the skin underneath is usually shaved to better conduct the current, and the second is placed on the shaved top of the head. Typically, the electrodes are lubricated with a special gel to improve current flow and reduce skin burning. An opaque mask is put on the face.

The executioner presses the switch button on the control panel, delivering the first shock with a voltage of 1700 - 2400 volts and a duration of 30 - 60 seconds. The time is set on the timer in advance and the current is turned off automatically. After 2 shocks, the doctor examines the body of the criminal, who may not have been killed by previous shocks. Death occurs as a result of cardiac arrest and respiratory paralysis.

However, modern executors have come to the conclusion that the passage of current through the brain does not cause instant cardiac arrest ( clinical death), but only prolongs the torment. Now criminals are made incisions and electrodes are inserted into the left shoulder and right thigh so that the discharge passes through the aorta and heart.

Although all methods of execution are cruel to one degree or another, the electric chair is characterized by frequent and tragic malfunctions that cause additional suffering to the condemned, especially in cases where the equipment is old and in need of repair.

All this led to the fact that, under the influence of the famous American human rights activist Leo Jones, the electric chair was recognized as a “cruel, inapplicable” punishment, contrary to the US Constitution.

On August 6, 1890, humanity wrote a new page in its history. Scientific and technical progress got to such a specific type of activity as the execution of death sentences. The first execution by electric chair was carried out in the United States of America.

The “electric chair” indirectly owes its appearance to the famous inventor Thomas Edison. In the 1880s, the “war of currents” broke out in the United States - a struggle between direct and alternating current power supply systems. Edison was an adept of direct current systems, and Nikola Tesla was an adept of alternating current systems.

Edison, trying to tip the scales in his favor, pointed out the extreme dangers of alternating current systems. For clarity, the inventor sometimes demonstrated creepy experiments, killing animals with alternating current.

In American society of the late 19th century, literally in love with electricity, the issue of humanizing the death penalty was simultaneously discussed. Many believed that hanging was too great an atrocity that should be replaced with a more humane method of killing.

It is not surprising that the idea of electrocution has become extremely popular.

Observational dentist

First thought about " electric car death" came to the mind of an American dentist Albert Southwick. One day, before his eyes, a middle-aged drunk touched the contacts of an electric generator. The death of the unfortunate man was instantaneous.

Southwick, who witnessed this scene, shared his observation with his patient and friend David McMillan.

Mr. McMillan was a senator and, considering Southwick's proposal to be practical, he approached the New York State Legislature with an initiative to introduce a new, “progressive” method of execution.

The discussion of the initiative continued for about two years, and the number of supporters of the new method of execution was constantly growing. Among those who were both in favor was Thomas Edison.

In 1888, a series of additional experiments on killing animals were carried out in Edison’s laboratories, after which the authorities received a positive conclusion from experts about the possibility of using the “electric chair” for the death penalty. On January 1, 1889, the Electrical Execution Law came into effect in New York State.

Supporters of the use of alternating current in everyday life strongly opposed its use for murder, but were powerless.

In 1890, an electrician for the Auburn prison Edwin Davis built the first working model of the new “death machine”.

Electrocution. The illustration was made after experiments on the feasibility of carrying out the death penalty in 1888. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Humane theory

The humaneness of execution, according to supporters of the invention, was that electric current rapidly destroys the brain and nervous system sentenced, thereby saving him from suffering. The executed person loses consciousness within thousandths of a second, and the pain simply does not have time to reach the brain during this time.

The “electric chair” itself is a chair made of dielectric material with armrests and a high back, equipped with belts to firmly secure the sentenced person. The arms are attached to the armrests, the legs are secured in special clamps on the chair legs. The chair also comes with a special helmet. Electrical contacts are connected to the ankle attachment points and to the helmet. The current limiting system is designed so that the body of the condemned person does not catch fire during the execution.

After the condemned person is seated on a chair and restrained, a helmet is placed on his head. Before this, the hair on the top of the head is shaved. The eyes are either covered with a plaster or a black hood is simply put on the head. A sponge soaked in saline solution is inserted into the helmet: this is done in order to ensure minimal electrical contact resistance between the helmet and the head and thus speed up death and alleviate the physical suffering of the person being executed.

Then the current is turned on, which is supplied twice for one minute each with a break of 10 seconds. It is believed that by the time the second minute expires, the condemned person must be dead.

Critics of the “electric chair” pointed out from the very beginning that all discussions about its humanity are purely theoretical, and in practice everything can turn out completely differently.

First "client"

There were two candidates to go down in history as the first victim of the electric chair - Joseph Chapleau who killed a neighbor, and William Kemmler, who hacked to death his mistress with an ax.

As a result, Chapleau’s lawyers achieved a pardon, and Kemmler got the “honor” of trying out the new invention on himself.

By the time of his execution, William Kemmler was 30 years old. His parents were immigrants from Germany who did not build new life, but they simply drank themselves to death and died, leaving their son an orphan.

The difficult childhood also affected his future life, which did not spoil Kemmler. In the spring of 1889, after a quarrel with his mistress Tilly Ziegler the man killed her with an ax blow.

The court sentenced Kemmler to death, which was to be carried out in the electric chair.

Lawyers, citing the US Constitution, which prohibits "cruel and unusual punishment", tried to have the court's decision overturned, but their appeal was rejected.

On August 6, 1890, at 6 a.m., in the Auburn prison, the first electrical discharge ran through the body of William Kemmler.

"Fried" facts

Everything did not go as the theorists described. Kemmler's body convulsed so much that the prison doctor, confused by what he saw, gave the command to turn off the current in less than 20 seconds, and not in a minute, as planned. At first it seemed that Kemmler was dead, but then he began to take convulsive breaths and moan. A new killing attempt required time to recharge the device. Finally, the current was given a second time, this time for one minute. Kemmler's body began to smoke, and the smell of burnt meat spread throughout the room. After a minute, the doctor stated that the convict was dead.

The opinion of the witnesses to the execution, of which there were more than twenty people, turned out to be extremely unanimous - Kemmler’s killing looked extremely disgusting. One reporter wrote that the condemned man was literally “roasted to death.”

The journalist's external impression was not so deceptive. Forensic physicians who worked with the bodies of those executed in the “electric chair” said that the brain, which was exposed to the strongest effects of the current, turned out to be practically boiled.

Despite the negative impressions of witnesses to the execution of William Kemmler, the “electric chair” began to rapidly gain popularity. By the end of the first decade of the 20th century, it had become the most popular method of death penalty in the United States.

Executed at his own request

Abroad, however, this kind of execution has not become widespread. And in the United States itself, in the 1970s, the “electric chair” gradually began to be replaced by lethal injection.

Over the entire history of the use of the electric chair, more than 4,300 people were executed with it.

Currently, eight states officially retain the electrocution. However, in practice, this execution is resorted to less and less often, including due to technical difficulties. The newest “samples” of these “death machines” are today more than thirty years old, and some are already more than 70, so they often malfunction during executions.

In a number of US states, there is a rule according to which the criminal himself can choose the method of execution. This is exactly what a 42-year-old man who was executed in January 2013 in Virginia did. Robert Gleason. Sentenced in 2007 to life imprisonment for the murder of an FBI agent, Gleason killed two of his cellmates in prison, explaining his actions with a desire to go to... the electric chair. Moreover, the criminal promised to continue killing fellow inmates if he was not given such an opportunity. As a result, Robert Gleason achieved his goal, becoming, perhaps, one of the last “clients” in the history of the “electric chair”.

And who came up with this humane instrument of death

The electric chair was invented by Thomas Edison. He is the author of numerous important inventions: during Edison's life, the US Patent Office issued him 1093 patents for such things as, for example, an electric vote counter (1868), a carbon telephone membrane (1870), an incandescent lamp with a carbon filament (1879). ) And so on. However, here we will talk about his electric chair, patented in 1890.

What is it? We have often seen American films where a prisoner is sentenced to death through the electric chair, but have we ever thought about how this infernal machine works?

An electric chair is a chair made of dielectric (that is, non-conductive) material with armrests and a high back, equipped with belts to firmly secure the prisoner. The condemned person's arms are secured to the armrests, and his legs are secured in special leg clamps. The chair also comes with a special helmet. Electrical contacts are connected to the ankle attachment points and to the helmet. Part technical support step-up transformer included. During execution, alternating current with a voltage of about 2700 V is supplied to the contacts.

The chair is equipped with two switches, which are turned on simultaneously by different executioners, and in reality only one of them turns on the current. This procedure is used to ensure that no one, including the executors themselves, can know who actually carried out the execution (apparently, this helped to relieve the executors of the sentence from remorse).

By the way, in some states there is a regulation that if a person endures three sessions of “electrotherapy” in a row, then he is released. Believe it or not, there were some, although, of course, the vast majority of those sentenced died after the first inclusion.

The electric chair was introduced on August 6, 1890 as a humane means of execution, allowing the death of a criminal without causing him unnecessary suffering. Those who advocate this type of execution claim that it is painless, however, you must admit, this is difficult to verify.

The electric chair is currently used in six states—Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia—along with lethal injection.

Assassin of President McKinley. Throughout the 20th century, it was used in 26 states, but in recent decades it has been actively replaced by other forms of execution (for example, lethal injection) and is now used quite rarely. From 1952 to 1976 it was also used in the Philippines.

Currently, it can be used in six states - Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia at the choice of the convicted person along with lethal injection, and in Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida only those who committed a crime before a certain date have the right to choose the use of the electric chair (in Kentucky - April 1, 1998, in Tennessee - January 1, 1999). In Tennessee and Virginia, the electric chair can also be used if the components for lethal injection are not found. In Florida, the electric chair is used at the request of the convicted person within 30 days of the confirmation of the death sentence by the Florida Supreme Court; the default is lethal injection. The last electrocution in Florida was in 1999. In Nebraska, the electric chair was used as the only method of execution, but on February 8, 2008, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that it was "cruel and unusual punishment" prohibited by the constitution. In Arkansas and Oklahoma, it can be used only in strictly specified cases, for example, if all other methods of execution are found unconstitutional at the time of execution.

In the state of Alabama, since 2018, the procedure for using execution methods follows the following regulations:

Lethal injection is routinely used
If it is “impossible to use the injection” or its recognition as unconstitutional, execution using pure nitrogen is used (a new type of execution, probably should be applied using a special mask)
If injection and “execution by nitrogen inhalation” are declared unconstitutional or it is impossible to use both methods of execution, the electric chair is used
If all three methods of execution are declared unconstitutional or it is impossible to carry them out, shooting is used.

During 2001, 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2014-2018, this method of execution was not used even once, in all other years of the 21st century - once each. In Kentucky and Nebraska, the electric chair was used in last time in 1997, in Georgia - in 1998 (further use was prohibited Supreme Court Georgia in 2001), Florida in 1999, Alabama in 2002, Tennessee in 2007, South Carolina in 2008. IN last years The electric chair is used only in Virginia (three death row inmates were executed by electric chair between 2009 and 2013).

The last known use of the electric chair was recorded on January 16, 2013, when Robert Gleason, a prisoner who killed two fellow inmates in order to receive a death sentence, was executed in Virginia.

Video on the topic

Device and principle of operation

The electric chair is a chair made of dielectric material with armrests and a high back, equipped with belts to firmly secure the prisoner. The arms are attached to the armrests, the legs are secured in special clamps on the chair legs. The chair also comes with a special helmet. Electrical contacts are connected to the ankle attachment points and to the helmet. The hardware includes a step-up transformer. During the execution, an alternating current with a voltage of about 2700 is supplied to the contacts; a current limiting system maintains the current through the body of the convicted person 5. The current and voltage are limited to prevent the condemned person from catching fire during execution.

The chair's power management system has power-on protection that must be deactivated immediately before execution. responsible person using a special key. According to one version, the chair may have one or more control switches, by pressing which the current is turned on. In this case, they are turned on simultaneously by different executioners, and in reality only one of them turns on the current. This procedure is used to ensure that no one, including the perpetrators themselves, can know who actually carried out the execution (similar to the widespread known species execution, when part of the shooters is given a weapon loaded with blank cartridges).

Execution procedure

The condemned person is seated in an electric chair, his arms are attached to the armrests, and his legs are attached to the leg contacts. Before putting down the helmet, a hood is put on the suicide bomber’s head, or his eyes are covered. The helmet is placed on the convict's head, where the hair on the top of the head is shaved before execution. A sponge soaked in a saline solution is inserted into the helmet to ensure minimal electrical resistance to contact between the helmet and the head and, thus, hasten death and alleviate the physical suffering of the convicted person. The torso is secured with additional straps.

After turning off the protection system, the executioner turns on the current. The voltage is turned on twice, for one minute, with a break of 10 seconds (in different designs number of starts and time intervals may vary). After turning off the power, the doctor must make sure that the convicted person is dead. In some US states and countries, if death does not occur, the operation may continue. William Vandiver was killed only after the fifth shock.

Story

The creation of the electric chair is associated with the name of Thomas Edison. In the 1880s in the United States, Edison, who organized the first direct current power supply system, actively competed with new power supply systems based on alternating current, which was called the war of currents. Edison convinced consumers of the shortcomings of his competitors' systems and propagated the dangers of such systems, including conducting public experiments on killing animals with alternating current.

These events coincided with the discussion that began in the country about choosing a more humane method of death penalty (until the 80s of the 19th century, hanging was mainly used in the United States. Every now and then, horrifying scenes of too long and painful executions leaked to the press: even the most experienced the executioner sometimes could not foresee the nuances, and death occurred not from a fracture of the vertebrae, as was supposed, but from strangulation, which was more painful.

The ever-increasing use of electricity was naturally accompanied by periodic accidents that resulted in deaths. In 1881, in Buffalo, New York, dentist Albert Southwick accidentally witnessed the death of an elderly drunk who touched the contacts of an electrical generator. Amazed by how quickly and seemingly painlessly his death occurred, Southwick turned to his friend, Senator David McMillan, with a proposal to replace the rope with wires. He asked the New York State Legislature to consider the use of electricity in the death penalty to eliminate hanging. In 1886, a commission was created to study the question of "the most humane and commendable method of carrying out death sentences." At this stage, the famous Thomas Edison joined the history of the electric chair, so tenaciously that this chair, by analogy with the guillotine, could be called “Edisonine” (although the prison population of America calls it “yellow mother” or “old smokehouse”). The inventor set up in West Orange (English)Russian(New Jersey) illustrative experience: several cats and dogs were lured to metal plate under voltage of 1000 V AC. In 1888, the New York State Legislature passed a law establishing electrocution as the state's method of execution.

In the second half of 1888, inventor Harold Brown and Columbia University employee Fred Peterson conducted research at Edison's laboratories on the use of electricity for capital punishment. Over the course of several months, more than two dozen dogs were electrocuted; based on the results of the experiments, on December 12, 1888, the group presented a report to the New York State Forensic Society, which recommended the electric chair as an execution weapon (other options were considered, including the tank with water and a rubber-covered table). On January 1, 1889, the Electrical Execution Law came into effect in New York State.

An opponent of the electric chair was George Westinghouse, who had previously developed a system for supplying consumers with alternating current electricity, Edison's main competitor. After the electrocution law was enacted, Westinghouse refused to supply alternating current generators to prisons, forcing Edison and Brown to purchase generators through a roundabout route.

The first people sentenced to death by electric chair were William Kemmler and Joseph Chapleau (the first for the murder of his mistress, the second for the murder of his neighbor). Chapleau was pardoned and received a life sentence. Westinghouse also tried to save Kemmler, for which he hired lawyers who demanded an appeal of the verdict on the basis that execution by electric chair falls under the definition of “cruel and unusual punishment” prohibited by the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution, but the appeals were rejected.

In 1890, Edwin Davis, an electrician at the Auburn prison, developed the first working model of the electric chair. On August 6, 1890, William Kemmler was the first person in the world to be executed by electric chair at Auburn Prison. Although one of the reporters said: “He was not in pain at all!”, in reality the execution did not go entirely smoothly: after the first turn on of the current, Kemmler was still alive, the current had to be turned on a second time. George Westinghouse commented on the execution with the words: “They would have done better with an axe” (Kemmler killed his mistress with an ax).

In 1896, the electric chair was introduced in Ohio, in 1898 - in Massachusetts, in 1906 - in New Jersey, in 1908 - in Virginia, in 1910 - in North Carolina. Over the next ten years, it was legalized in more than ten more states and became the most popular execution weapon in America. In just over a hundred years of use, the electric chair has executed more than 4,300 people.

Conceived as a means of discrediting AC power systems, the electric chair failed to perform precisely this function. Despite its appearance, the use of alternating current expanded. Edison was later forced to admit that he had underestimated the advantages of alternating current. In 1912, Westinghouse was awarded the Edison Medal for his achievements in developing this technology.

Outside the US

“Slave owner” Alexander Komin from Vyatskie Polyany used a homemade electric chair to kill one of his prisoners.

Notorious people executed by electric chair

William Kemmler (New York) is the first man in the world to be executed in the electric chair.
Martha Place (New York) - the first woman to be executed in the electric chair.
Leon Czolgosz (New York) - assassin of President McKinley.
Chester Gillette (, New York) - killer who became the prototype fictional character Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy.
Charles Becker (English)Russian(, New York) - New York police officer, the first police officer in the United States sentenced to death for murder.
Sacco and Vanzetti (Massachusetts) - executed on trumped-up charges, became a textbook example of persecution for political reasons.
Giuseppe Zangara (Florida) - attempted on the life of President-elect Franklin Roosevelt and killed the mayor of Chicago.
Albert Fish (New York, New York) is a serial killer known as the "Moon Maniac", "The Gray Ghost", "The Brooklyn Vampire", "The Boogie Man", and "The Werewolf of Wisteria".
Bruno Richard Hauptmann (English)Russian(, New Jersey) - German criminal convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr.
Anna Maria Hahn (Ohio
Herman and Paul Petrillo (Pennsylvania) - gang leaders assassins Philadelphia poison ring.
Herbert Haupt, Edward John Curling, Richard Quirin, Heinrich Harm Heinck, Hermann Otto Neubauer, Werner Thiel (Washington) - German agents during World War II, participants in Operation Pastorius (English)Russian.
Louis Lepke (New York) is a famous American gangster of the 1930s, the only mafia leader in the United States sentenced to death.
Lena Baker () is an African American woman executed for the murder of her employer.
Willie Francis (Louisiana) is a black juvenile delinquent who was sentenced to death and twice electrocuted (see Francis v. Resweber).
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (, New York) - American communists accused of spying for the Soviet Union.
Rhonda Bell Martin (Alabama) is an American serial killer.
Charles Starkweather (Nebraska) is an American serial killer known as the “binge killer.”
James French (English)Russian(, Oklahoma) - the last prisoner executed before the moratorium on the death penalty was adopted in the United States in

At the end of the 19th century, Thomas Edison invented the incandescent lamp, which was a truly great invention that made it possible to use electricity to illuminate cities...

In 1886, the “Law for the creation of a commission to study and report on the most humane and acceptable method of carrying out the death penalty” was passed.
The commission included Southwick, Judge Matthew Hale and politician Eluridge Gerry.
The commission's conclusion, set out in a ninety-five page report, was that the best method of carrying out the death penalty was electrocution.
The report recommended that the state replace hanging with a new form of execution.
Governor Hill signs the law on June 5, 1888, which was to take effect on January 1, 1889, marking the beginning of a new, humane punishment in the State of New York.

It remained to resolve the issue concerning the apparatus itself for carrying out the sentence and the question of what type of electric current should be used: direct or alternating.
It is worth considering the history associated with alternating and direct currents. How do they differ, and which current is more suitable for execution?
Long before the invention of Thomas Edison, scientists from different countries worked on this subject, but no one managed to use electricity in everyday life. Edison put into practice the theory developed before him.
Edison's first power plant was built in 1879; Almost immediately, representatives from different US cities went to the scientist.
Edison's DC system had its difficulties. Direct current flows in one direction. It is impossible to supply direct current over long distances; power plants had to be built even to provide electricity to a medium-sized city.

The speech of the respected scientist Thomas Edison before the commission to decide on the method of execution made a vivid impression. The legendary inventor convinced everyone present that death using electricity is painless and quick, of course, in the case of using alternating current. The commission had the choice to implement execution by lethal injection.
Lethal injection is considered more humane than the electric chair. In the 20th century, almost all states that have the death penalty began to use it.

The first execution took place on January 1, 1889.
For several decades after this event, this “unit” was called the Westinghouse chair or “Westinghoused”.

The next executions took place in the spring of 1891.
Four were executed for various crimes. The method of carrying out the sentence has been adjusted. The generator has become more powerful, the wires have become thicker. The second electrode was connected not to the spine, but to the arm.
These executions went more smoothly, and the new method was accepted by public opinion.
The first “tester” of the innovation was a murderer named Kemmsler. For obvious reasons, he was unable to describe his feelings, but witnesses to the execution noted that 15 to 20 seconds after the first shock, the criminal was still alive.
I had to turn on a higher voltage current and for a longer time. For a long time and painfully, the “experiment” was brought “to the end.” This execution caused many protests from the American and world public.

However, modern executors have come to the conclusion that the passage of current through the brain does not cause instant cardiac arrest (clinical death), but only prolongs the torment. Now criminals are made incisions and electrodes are inserted into the left shoulder and right thigh so that the discharge passes through the aorta and heart.