Who's the chair? Carpenter, electrician, scientist - these are the options that come to mind. You may be surprised to learn that this person's profession was different. In this article we will answer the question: who invented electric chair? He demands detailed consideration, because the history associated with it is very interesting. At the end of the 19th century he invented the incandescent lamp. Of course, this man is not the one who invented the electric chair. However, this was the first step towards many discoveries related to electricity. This invention, in particular, allowed us to use it to illuminate cities.

Albert Southwick's idea

Many people are interested in the question: who was the creator of the new method of execution? Albert Southwick is believed to be the one who invented the electric chair. His profession is dentist. This man was from Buffalo, New York. The one who invented the electric chair (his profession, as you can see, is somewhat unexpected), believed that it could be used as an anesthetic in medical practice. One day, Albert saw one of the residents of Buffalo touch him. This man died, as Southwick thought then, painlessly and almost instantly. This incident led him to the idea that execution with electricity could replace, as a faster and more humane punishment, hanging, which was used at that time. Southwick first proposed using electricity to get rid of unwanted animals instead of drowning them. Colonel Rockwell, head of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, liked the idea.

Commission conclusion

Southwick conducted a series of experiments on animals in 1882 and published his results in scientific newspapers. It was Albert who is often credited with inventing the electric chair. However, many people took part in its development. In particular, Southwick showed the results of his experiments to David MacMillan, a senator and his friend. He stated that execution using electricity is painless, which is its main advantage. McMillian advocated maintaining the death penalty. He was attracted to this idea as an argument against its abolition. McMillian conveyed what he heard to D. B. Hill, the governor of New York. In 1886, a special commission was created, which included Southwick (the profession of the man who invented the electric chair was a dentist, as already mentioned), Eluridge Gerry (a politician) and Matthew Hale (a judge). Her conclusion, which was set out in a 95-page report, was that best method execution of a death sentence - execution with the use of electricity. The State was recommended in this report to replace it with new look execution: hanging.

Death penalty law

In 1888, on June 5, the governor signed a corresponding law, which was supposed to come into force in 1889. The only thing left to decide was whether to use type or constant. How are they different? Let's figure it out.

AC and DC current

Scientists from various countries have been working on this issue long before the invention made by Thomas Edison. However, Edison (pictured below) was the first to put into practice the theory developed before him. In 1879 the first power station was built. Edison's system operated on direct current. However, it only flows in one direction, so it was impossible to supply current to long distance. It was necessary to build power plants to provide electricity to a medium-sized city.

Nikola Tesla, a Croatian scientist, found a solution. He came up with the idea of ​​​​using alternating current, which can change its direction several times per second, creating a magnetic field and without losing electrical voltage. You can step down or step up AC voltage using transformers. Such current can be transmitted over long distances with small losses, after which electricity can be supplied to consumers through a step-down transformer.

Starting to use AC

This system attracted investors, one of whom was George Westinghouse (pictured below).

He wanted to make it profitable to use, but Edison's technology was more popular at that time. It was Edison who worked for Tesla, but he did not pay attention to his developments, and Tesla quit. The scientist soon patented his ideas. Westinghouse bought 40 patents from Tesla in 1888, and within a few years more than a hundred cities were using the alternating current system.

"Clash of the Titans"

In 1887, Edison began to discredit this system by demanding the collection of information from his workers about deaths caused by alternating current. So he hoped to prove that his method was safer for the population.

Clash of the Titans began when the question arose about what type of current should be used for capital punishment. Nikola Tesla (pictured below) at the same time avoided any statements addressed to Thomas and preferred to remain silent. But Thomas smashed Tesla with his characteristic categoricalness and enthusiasm. The “War of Currents” lasted until 2007! In New York, it was only in the 21st century that the last DC wires were symbolically cut. The entire network of America and the whole world was finally transferred to alternating current.

Edison's brochure and speech

Since Edison did not want his invention to be associated in any way with death, he wanted alternating current to be used in an apparatus intended for the death penalty. The scientist published the brochure "Warning" in 1887. In it, he compared direct current with alternating current and pointed out the safety of the latter.

Thomas Edison's speech before the commission made a strong impression. The inventor convinced everyone present that when using alternating current, death from electricity is quick and painless. The commission to resolve this issue was faced with the alternative of using lethal injection, which is considered more humane than execution by electric chair. It was in the 20th century that almost all states where the death penalty existed began to use it. Perhaps many would not have had to suffer in the electric chair if there had not been competition between companies, as well as Thomas Edison’s persuasive speech before the commission. The question was also that executions by lethal injection are carried out by doctors, which for obvious reasons is impossible.

First execution

In 1889, on January 1, the first execution took place using such an invention as the electric chair (its photo is presented below). The unit used for it was called a Westing chair, or Westinghouse chair, until several decades later. The following executions took place in the spring of 1891. Four people were executed for various crimes. The method of carrying out the sentence has been adjusted. Became more powerful generator and thicker wires. The 2nd electrode was connected to the arm, not to the spine. These executions went more smoothly, and public opinion accepted new method.

Execution of William Kemmler

William Kemmler, who killed his common-law wife with an ax, was the first “tester” of this innovation. He was executed in the city of Obernai in 1890, on August 6. He couldn't due to known reasons describe your feelings. Whoever invented the electric chair could not have foreseen what happened. Witnesses present during the execution of the sentence noted that the criminal was still alive 15-20 seconds after the 1st shock. I had to turn on the current for a longer time and with a higher voltage. The “experiment” was still painfully and long brought to the end. This execution caused many protests from the world and American public.

Murder by electric chair

Let us describe the technology of murder using the electric chair. The criminal sits on it and is tied with leather straps to the chair, securing the chest, thighs, ankles and wrists. 2 copper electrodes are attached to the body: one on the leg (the skin underneath is shaved for better conduction of electricity), and the other on the shaved top of the head. The electrodes are usually lubricated with a special gel to reduce skin burning and improve current conduction. An opaque mask is placed on the face.

The executioner presses the switch button on the control panel, thereby delivering the 1st charge, the voltage of which ranges from 1700 to 2400 volts, and the duration is approximately 30-60 seconds. The timer is set in advance and the current is automatically turned off. After two charges, the doctor examines the body of the criminal, because he may still not be killed. Death occurs as a result of respiratory paralysis and cardiac arrest.

Improvement

However, modern executors have concluded that instant cardiac arrest (that is, clinical death) is not caused by the passage of current through the brain. It only prolongs the torment. Criminals are now cut and electrodes are inserted into the right thigh and left shoulder to send the charge through the heart and aorta.

The electric chair is a cruel punishment

Does it really matter who invented the electric chair: a carpenter or an electrician? More importantly, this method of punishment is inhumane. Although all methods of execution are cruel to one degree or another, it is the electric chair that often produces tragic malfunctions that cause additional suffering for the condemned, especially in cases where the equipment used is in need of repair or is old. This led to the fact that this type The death penalty was recognized under the influence of Leo Jones, a famous American human rights activist, as an inapplicable, cruel punishment that is contrary to the US Constitution.

Now you know who invented the electric chair. Dentist Albert Southwick, apparently, had no idea what fate awaited the idea that came into his head. Today this method of execution has become one of the symbols of the United States. But the electric chair was invented by a dentist who just wanted to alleviate people's suffering.

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 this? 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. Included 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.

IN late XIX 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: the best method The execution of a death sentence is execution using electricity.
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 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. 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 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 the electric chair. In the 20th century, almost all states that have the death penalty began to use it.

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 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 discharge, 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 prone to frequent and tragic malfunctions that cause additional suffering for 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.

The United States, a country of democratic freedoms and the world's main bastion of human rights, has constantly sought to make not only life, but also death easier for its citizens. So, 115 years ago, a new type of killing of criminals appeared in this state - the electric chair.

"Humane" type of execution

Whatever the statistics may say, in the USA there has always been a large percentage of especially dangerous criminals. Perhaps the reason for this is the contingent that historically flooded the new uncharted lands- adventurers, robbers and treasure hunters. Such people were rarely stopped by moral principles, and the murder of their neighbor did not frighten them. Perhaps it was knowledge of their history that made US senators so zealously advocate the death penalty. Of course, there was a period in the history of the United States when a moratorium was imposed on the execution of criminals, but it did not last long - from 1972 to 1976. Today, execution in this country is legal in 33 states, 7 of which still use the electric chair.

Before its invention, hanging was used in the United States. Prisoners were not always “lucky”. If the cervical vertebrae were broken, then death was relatively painless. Quite often, such a gift of fate did not happen, and the person died from suffocation, which was considered absolutely inhumane.

Albert Southwick and his "humanism"

Many ordinary people believe that this type of execution was invented by a madman; in fact, this is not the case. The opinions of historians on this issue are ambiguous. Who invented the electric chair? Edison, Brown or Southwick?

The idea of ​​electrocution came from dentist Albert Southwick. One day he saw a drunkard step on exposed wires and die instantly. It seemed to Mr. Southwick that the man's death was instantaneous and painless. He told the head of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Colonel Rockwell, about his idea. The dentist suggested electrocuting sick animals rather than drowning them. Rockwell liked the idea, and the following month Southwick began experimenting on animals.

He published his observations in a scientific journal. After a certain number of experiments, he turned to his friend, Senator David McMillan, with a proposal to use current as an instrument of capital punishment. MacMillan was a supporter of this procedure, and having heard that the current was less painful, he unconditionally agreed to transfer the papers to the Senate in order to approve the procedure. In 1886, the law “On the Study of the Most Humane Type of Death Penalty” was passed. On June 5, 1888, they signed a document “On the introduction of a new humane type of execution in the State of New York.”

Which current is more efficient?

Humanists immediately faced the question of how to develop the ideal electric chair. The law was passed, but the apparatus was not ready. In addition, the researchers did not know what type of current to use: direct or alternating.

Direct current was the brainchild of Thomas Edison, alternating current - Nikola Tesla. The battle of the titans began between scientists, or rather, between Edison and Westinghouse, the investor who bought the patents for Tesla's invention. Addison did not want his invention to become a symbol of the death penalty, so he made every effort to discredit Tesla’s methodology and convince the commission that studied death from electricity that alternating current kills more painlessly and quickly than direct current.

Development of an execution device

The issue was resolved, alternating current defeated lethal injection. Discussions began about how the procedure should proceed. After much debate, engineer Harold Brown proposed placing the prisoner in a chair and attaching electrodes to his body. It is to him that the electric chair owes its appearance. On January 1, 1889, the law on execution using such a device came into force. By the above date, the first electric chair was already ready.

Operating principle

Execution by electric chair was supposed to reduce the torment of the criminal and reduce the pain. The developers of the device planed a massive wooden chair, brought electrodes to it. One of them, at the end with a wet washcloth, was attached to the convict’s head, the other was planned to be brought to the spine. The electrodes were soaked in saline solution in advance. The voltage of the electric chair was 2000 volts. The legs and arms of the criminal had to be rigidly secured with belts. The current was transmitted by a generator.

Later this technique was improved. Now the wires are connected to the ankles and to the head. The voltage is 2700 volts.

First execution

The first execution on the Westinghouse apparatus, and this is what this device was called for some time, took place as planned - August 6, 1890. The first person to be intentionally electrocuted was a merchant from Buffalo, William Kemmler. In a fit of jealousy and drunken stupor, he hacked his wife to death with an ax. The candidate was excellent, and they decided to test the electric chair. The prison guard was noticeably nervous and could not control the trembling in his hands, this made it impossible to properly fasten the belts. Kemmler was even indignant and asked the warden to calm down. Edwin Davis pulled the switch. If we talk about who invented the electric chair, in terms of who designed it, it was Mr. Davis. He immediately acquired the nickname “state electrician.”

Tension ran through the wires, all those gathered began to exclaim enthusiastically that they had entered the era of humanity. But to the surprise of the witnesses, the criminal did not die. Then the current was given again, but the generators needed time to charge. Throughout these few minutes, Kemmler moaned and gasped. The current was given again, the criminal’s head began to smoke, and he finally breathed his last. Someone present noted that it would have been faster with an axe.

Opponents of the electric chair

After the first electrocution of a person, it became clear that the method was not only unfinished, it was brutal and cruel. The first opponent of electrocution was John Westinghouse, but it is unlikely that he thought about the humanity of the issue. The entrepreneur did not want alternating current to be used. Supporters of this type of execution immediately rushed to refine their device, and opponents began to sound the alarm. Did the developers of this murder weapon know that their device would give rise to human rights organizations and human rights activists? It was those executed in the electric chair that became the reason for the formation of a movement against killing in this way. In the 20th century, the abolitionist movement began in the United States, and the search for a humane instrument of the death penalty continues to this day.

Today, electrocution is used only in the state of Virginia; seven other states allow this type of execution. Lethal injection eventually replaced this “humane” device.

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Subtitles

Application

The electric chair was first used in the United States on August 6, 1890, at Auburn State Penitentiary in New York. William Kemmler, the murderer, became the first person to be executed in this manner. Eleven years later, in the same prison, Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of President McKinley, was executed in the electric chair. 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 seven states - Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia at the choice of the convicted person along with lethal injection, and in Kentucky and Tennessee 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, 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 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.

During 2001, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016, this method of execution was not used even once, in all other years of the 21st century - once. In Kentucky and Nebraska, the electric chair was used in last time in 1997, Georgia in 1998 (further use was prohibited by the Georgia Supreme Court in 2001), Florida in 1999, Alabama in 2002, Tennessee in 2007, South Carolina in 2008 year. IN recent 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.

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 a power-on protection that must be deactivated immediately before execution by the person in charge 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 saline solution to ensure minimum electrical resistance contact of the helmet with 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 1980s in the USA, 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 USA. Every now and then, horrifying scenes of too long and painful execution 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.

More and more widespread use electricity, naturally, was accompanied by periodic accidents that resulted in people dying. In 1881, in Buffalo, New York, dentist Albert Southwick accidentally witnessed the death of an elderly drunk who touched contacts. electric 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 experiment: several cats and dogs were lured onto a metal plate under a voltage of 1000 V AC. In 1888, the New York State Legislature passed a law establishing electrocution as the state's method of carrying out death sentences.

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 force 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, main competitor Edison. After the electrocution law was enacted, Westinghouse refused to supply alternators 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 benefits 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 Polyan 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) is a murderer who became the prototype for a fictional character in 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 the life of President-elect Franklin Roosevelt and killed the mayor of Chicago.
• Albert Fish (New York City) 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 Marie Khan (Ohio) is an American serial killer.
• Herman and Paul Petrillo (Pennsylvania) are the leaders of the Philadelphia poison ring gang of hitmen.
• 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) - a famous American gangster of the 1930s, the only mafia leader in the United States sentenced to death.
• Lina Baker is an African-American woman who was executed for the murder of her employer.