The working principle of the electric chair. How a compassionate dentist came up with the “electric chair.” The electric chair is a cruel punishment

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 in this state there appeared new look killing criminals - 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.

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 drunkard touched the contacts 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 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 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: This is done to ensure minimal electrical resistance contact of the helmet with the head and thus hasten death and alleviate the physical suffering of the executed person.

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

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, exposed to the strongest effects of current, turns 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 using it.

Currently, eight states officially retain the electrocution. However, in practice this execution is resorted to less and less often, also 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 can choose the method of execution. This is exactly what a 42-year-old man, 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”.

Relatively recently, in the United States, criminals sentenced to death were sent to the electric chair. But in recent years This “high-tech” method of execution was practically abandoned. What is the reason?

Who invented the electric chair

They began to execute in the electric chair in late XIX centuries. "Progressive" society decided that executions such as burning at the stake, hanging and beheading were inhumane. The criminal should not suffer additionally during the execution process: after all, the most precious thing - his life - is already taken away from him.

According to the official version, the impetus for this invention was a certain incident in 1881. Dentist Albert Southwick from Buffalo (New York) once witnessed how a certain old man died after accidentally touching the contacts of an electrical generator. It occurred to Southwick that such a death could be quick and painless. He first proposed using electricity to get rid of unwanted animals, such as kittens or puppies. This method of killing seemed to him more humane than, say, the practice of drowning. The idea also appealed to the head of the Society for the Protection of Animals from Cruelty, Colonel Rockwell.

Southwick began conducting experiments on killing animals with electricity.

He published the results of his experiments in scientific publications, and then showed these articles to his friend, Senator David MacMillan. He turned to D.B. Hill, Governor of New York. In 1886, a special commission was created whose task was to study the question of “the most humane and commendable method of carrying out death sentences.” Southwick also joined the commission.

The inventor of electricity himself, the famous Thomas Edison, undertook to conduct official tests. In West Orange (New Jersey), a demonstration experiment was conducted on cats and dogs. They were placed on a metal plate under a voltage of 1000 volts, as a result of which the animals died. In 1888, inventor Harold Brown and Columbia University employee Fred Peterson tested appropriate equipment in Edison's laboratories, electrocuting more than two dozen dogs over the course of several months. On January 1, 1889, the previously adopted Electrical Execution Law was enacted in New York State.

The first working model of the electric chair was developed in 1890 by an ordinary electrician named Edwin Davis, an employee of the prison in Auburn.

Operating principle

The essence of the execution is this. The top of the head and the calf of one leg are shaved bald for the convicted person. The torso and arms are then firmly tied with straps to a chair made of dielectric material with a high back and armrests. The legs are secured using special clamps. At first, criminals were blindfolded, then they began to put a hood on their heads, and more recently - a special mask. One electrode is attached to the head, on which the helmet is worn, and the other to the leg. The executioner turns on the switch button, which passes alternating current through the body with a force of up to 5 amperes and a voltage of 1700 to 2400 volts. Typically the execution takes about two minutes. Two discharges are given, each one is turned on for one minute, the break between them is 10 seconds. The first discharge destroys the brain and central nervous system, the second leads to complete cardiac arrest. Death must be recorded by a doctor.

Cruel and unusual punishment

Not everyone approved of the innovation. Thus, Edison’s main competitor, George Westinghouse, who supplied consumers with electrical equipment, refused to supply electric generators to prisons, considering this method of execution inhumane.

William Kemmler, convicted of murdering his mistress Tillie Zeigler, was executed for the first time in the electric chair on August 6, 1890, in the Auburn prison in the US state of New York. Westinghouse tried to save this man, even hiring lawyers for him to appeal the verdict on the grounds that execution by electric chair is cruel and unusual punishment, and therefore should be prohibited by the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution. But it didn't help. The sentence was carried out. Typically, the executed man did not die immediately; he had to turn on the switch again. Westinghouse commented: “They would have done better with an axe.”

To date, more than four thousand people have been executed in this manner in the United States. One of them was Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of American President McKinley. A similar type of execution was used in the Philippines.

The communist spouses Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, accused of working for Soviet intelligence and transferring American nuclear secrets to it, ended their lives in the electric chair. In particular, they allegedly handed over the drawing to the Soviets atomic bomb, dropped on Nagasaki. Prominent public figures came to the defense of the Rosenberg family - among them the famous physicist Albert Einstein, the writer Thomas Mann and even Pope Pius XII. But all requests for clemency were rejected, and in 1953, US President Dwight Eisenhower approved the death sentence. To this day, there are people who express doubts about the guilt of the Rosenbergs: the evidence against them was allegedly fabricated by the CIA - perhaps to gain an advantage over the USSR in the Cold War.

"Let me breathe!"

It was assumed that when an electric current was passed through the body, a person would die immediately. But this did not always happen. Often, eyewitnesses had to observe how people put in the electric chair convulsed, bit their tongues, foam and blood came out of their mouths, their eyes popped out of their sockets, involuntary emptying of the intestines and bladder occurred... Some screamed during the execution. Almost always, after the discharge was given, a light smoke began to emanate from the skin and hair of the convict. There have also been cases of a person sitting in an electric chair whose head caught fire and exploded. Quite often, the burnt skin was “stuck” to the belts and seat. The bodies of those executed were, as a rule, so hot that it was impossible to touch them, and the smell of burnt meat remained in the room for a long time.

One of the protocols describes an episode when a convict was exposed to a 2450 volt discharge for 15 seconds, but a quarter of an hour after the procedure he was still alive. As a result, the execution had to be repeated three times until the criminal died.

In 1985, in Indiana, a certain William Vandiver was shocked five times. It took 17 minutes to kill him.

According to experts, when exposed to such high voltage, the human body is literally fried alive. Here is the recollection of one survivor: “My mouth tasted like cold peanut butter. I felt my head and left leg, so I tried my best to break free from the bonds.” 17-year-old Willie Francis, who sat in the electric chair in 1947, shouted: “Turn it off! Let me breathe!

Repeatedly the execution turned out to be painful as a result of various failures and malfunctions. So, on May 4, 1990, when the criminal Jesse D. Tafero was executed, the gasket under the helmet caught fire, the convict received third and fourth degree burns. In 1991, during an execution, one of the criminals kicked his legs so hard against a chair that he broke them.

The story of the murderer of an entire family, Allen Lee Davis, who had not only his mouth (instead of a gag) but also his nose sealed with leather tape before his execution, caused great resonance. As a result, he suffocated.

Electric chair or injection?

It soon became clear that “humane” execution often turns into torture, and its use was limited. True, some people believe that the whole point is not at all about humanity, but about the high cost of the procedure.

Currently, electrocution is used in six American states - Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. Moreover, the convicted person is offered a choice of the electric chair or lethal injection. In some states, shooting, hanging, and the gas chamber are also practiced as alternatives.

IN last time execution by electric chair took place on January 16, 2013 in Virginia. This measure was applied to Robert Gleason, who, by the way, deliberately killed two cellmates so that his life sentence would be commuted to a death sentence.

Invented for humane reasons, the electric chair turned out to be one of the most cruel methods of death penalty.

War of Currents

On August 6, 1890, humanity wrote a new page in its history. Scientific and technological progress has also reached 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

At first, the idea of an “electric death machine” came to the mind of the 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, Auburn prison electrician Edwin Davis built the first working model of the new “death machine.”

Humane theory

The humanity of execution, according to supporters of the invention, lay in the fact that the electric current rapidly destroys the brain and nervous system of the condemned person, thereby relieving him of 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 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 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 resistance to contact 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 his 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 emigrants from Germany, who did not build a new life in America, but 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, a man killed her with an ax.
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, of whom there were more than twenty people, turned out to be extremely unanimous - the killing of Kemmler 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, exposed to the strongest effects of current, turns 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 using it.
Currently, eight states officially retain the electrocution. However, in practice this execution is resorted to less and less often, also 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 can choose the method of execution. This is exactly what 42-year-old Robert Gleason, executed in January 2013 in Virginia, did. 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”.

Kruglova I.

The electric chair was invented 115 years ago, becoming another symbol of the United States.

The invention of the most humane punishment at that time was accompanied by the fusion of many human vices. The inventors were guided largely by selfish goals, and not by the desire to alleviate suffering, improve the conditions of the convicts and alleviate their lot. In the history of the invention of a new method, intrigue, competition, slander, reproaches, science and business are intertwined.

At the end of the 19th century, Thomas Edison (below in the photo) invented the incandescent light bulb, 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. DC power supply is not possible on long distance, 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 (on the right in the photo). 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. (Left: Westinghouse photograph)

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.

Assumed different methods killing, for example, on a table or in a bath of water. Harold Brown proposed placing the convict on a chair, attaching electrodes to the convict's body. Brown and became the developer and engineer of the electric chair. In the midst of Edison's struggle with Westinghouse, the Electrical Execution Act was passed, effective January 1, 1889, which was supposed to establish the only method of execution - killing by electric current.

By January 1, 1889, the first electric chair was ready. This invention was considered a breakthrough in the humanization of the death penalty. No one had yet guessed that this invention would usher in an era of struggle for the rights of people sentenced to death.

Sources:

Belash V. “The most humane chair in the world.” Kommersant Power. August 1, 2005
MacLeod M. Electrocution. Electricity. http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/not_guilty/chair/2.html
Dr. Richard Moran. The Strange Origins of the Electric Chair. Aug. 5, 1990 BostonGlobe. Appendix Part B in John N. Miskell's monograph on Auburn Prison's electrocutions http://www.correctionhistory.org/auburn&osborne/miskell/html/auburnchair_moran.html
American electric chairs http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/Electric%20Chairs/Americas%20Electric%20Chairs.htm
Mystery electric chair http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/mystery_electric_chair.htm