[Image: History Today (2015). Man strapped down to the chair with a metal headpiece fitted around the top of his head. Seven men surround him.]
[Image: ABA Journal (2020), Modern Day Electric Chair with straps to secure arms, legs, and head.]
[Image: History Today (2015). Man strapped down to the chair with a metal headpiece fitted around the top of his head. Seven men surround him.]
WARNING! HIGH VOLTAGE MAY CAUSE ELECTRIC SHOCK, BURN, OR DEATH
In the 1880s, in New York, former engineer and current dentist, Alfred P. Southwick practiced the use of low-voltage currents as a numbing agent for dental surgery. After reports of a local man accidentally killing himself by touching a generator at an electric company, Southwick believed the death was instant and painless.
His fascination with electricity grew and he began experimenting on stray dogs in the Buffalo, New York area. He would place the dogs into water filled with electrical wires and would even dissect the dogs while they were alive to see how their organs responded to being electrocuted. Southwick was seeking to find a more humane alternative to the current execution methods at the time, and developed the electric chair.
William Kemmler was the first person to be executed by the electric chair. The execution quickly turned south. After the assumed fatal dose of electricity was administered, William was still breathing. A second dose of electricity was administered until he finally died. The entire affair lasted 8 minutes.
Sources:
“The Strange and Gruesome History of the Electric Chair.” Crime + Investigation. A&E Networks, August 6, 2019. https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/article/the-strange-and-gruesome-history-of-the-electric-chair.
Cavendish, Richard. “ William Kemmler Was Killed on August 6th, 1890.” The First Execution by Electric Chair. History Today, August 8, 2015. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/first-execution-electric-chair.
“The Electric Chair.” Cayuga Museum of History and Art. Accessed April 26, 2020. http://cayugamuseum.org/the-electric-chair/.
Modern Electric Chair. Some Tennessee Death-Row Inmates Opt for Electric Chair over Lethal Injections. ABA Journal, 2020. https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/some-tennessee-death-row-inmates-opt-for-electric-chair-over-lethal-injections.
Prisoner Sentenced to Death Waiting for Electric Chair Execution. Hamilton's Drug Store, 1908. http://cayugamuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/waiting_RGB150dpi.jpg.