Who invented the electric chair. A product of humanism

On August 6, 1890, mankind entered new page into your history. Scientific and technological progress has reached such a specific kind of activity as the execution of death sentences. In the United States of America, the first death penalty was carried out in the "electric chair".

"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 - the struggle between the power supply systems for direct and alternating current. Edison was an adept of direct current systems, Nikola Tesla was an adept of alternating current systems.

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

In American society of the late 19th century, literally in love with electricity, the issue of humanization was simultaneously discussed. death penalty. Many believed that hanging was too much atrocity, which should be replaced by a more humane way of killing.

It is not surprising that the idea of ​​the death penalty by means of electricity has become extremely popular.

Observant dentist

First, the thought of electric car death" came to the mind of an American dentist Albert Southwick. Once, in front of his eyes, a middle-aged drunkard touched the contacts electric generator. The unfortunate man's death was instantaneous.

Southwick, who witnessed the scene, shared his observation with his patient and friend. David Macmillan.

Mr. Macmillan was a senator and, considering Southwick's proposal sensible, he turned to the New York State Legislature with an initiative to introduce a new, "progressive" method of execution.

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

In 1888, a series of additional experiments on the killing of animals was carried out in Edison's laboratories, after which the authorities received a positive conclusion from experts on the possibility of using the "electric chair" for the death penalty. On January 1, 1889, the Electric Execution Act went into effect in New York State.

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

In 1890, an electrician in the Auburn prison Edwin Davis built the first working model of the new "death machine".

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

Humane theory

The humanity of the execution, according to the supporters of the invention, was that the electric current rapidly destroys the brain and nervous system of the condemned, thereby relieving him of suffering. The victim loses consciousness in thousandths of a second, and the pain simply does not have time to reach the brain during this time.

Myself " electric chair» is a chair made of dielectric material with armrests and high back, equipped with belts for rigid fixation of the sentenced. The arms are attached to the armrests, the legs - in special clamps on the legs of the chair. The chair also comes with a 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 does not catch fire during the execution.

After the sentenced person is seated on a chair and fixed, a helmet is put on his head. Before this, the hair on the crown is shaved. The eyes are either sealed with a plaster, or simply put on a black hood over the head. A sponge impregnated with saline solution is inserted into the helmet: this is done in order to ensure a minimum electrical resistance helmeted contact with the head and thus hasten death and alleviate the physical suffering of the executed.

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

Critics of the "electric chair" from the very beginning pointed out that all the arguments about his humanity are purely theoretical, and in practice everything can turn out quite differently.

First "client"

There were two candidates for going down in history as the first victim of the electric chair - Joseph Chapleau who killed a neighbor, and William Kemmler who killed his mistress with an axe.

As a result, Chapleau's lawyers achieved a pardon, and Kemmler got the "honor" to try 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 were not built in America new life, but tritely drank themselves and died, leaving their son an orphan.

A difficult childhood also affected later life, which Kemmler did not spoil. 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, referring to the US Constitution, which prohibits "cruel and unusual punishment", tried to have the court's decision overturned, but their appeal was rejected.

August 6, 1890, at 6 o'clock in the morning, in the Auburn prison, the first electric shock ran through the body of William Kemmler.

Fried Facts

Everything went wrong, as described by theorists. Kemmler's body convulsed so violently 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 sighs and moan. For a new attempt to kill, it took 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 the execution, of which 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 external impression of the journalist was not so deceptive. Forensic doctors who worked with the bodies of those executed in the "electric chair" said that the brain, which is exposed to the strongest current, is practically welded.

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 form of capital punishment in the United States.

Executed at will

Abroad, however, this kind of execution has not received wide distribution. And in the United States itself in the 1970s, the "electric chair" gradually began to be replaced by lethal injection.

Over 4,300 people have been executed in the history of the electric chair.

Currently, execution in the "electric chair" is officially maintained in eight states. However, in practice, this execution is resorted to less and less, including due to technical difficulties. The newest "models" of these "death machines" are over thirty years old, and some are already over 70, so they often fail during executions.

In a number of US states there is a rule according to which the offender himself can choose the method of execution. This is exactly what the 42-year-old executed in January 2013 in Virginia did Robert Gleason. Sentenced in 2007 to life imprisonment for the murder of an FBI agent, Gleason dealt with two of his cellmates in prison, explaining his actions with a desire to get ... into the "electric chair". Moreover, the criminal promised to continue to kill cellmates if he was not given such an opportunity. As a result, Robert Gleason got his way, becoming, perhaps, one of the last "clients" in the history of the "electric chair".

At the choice of the convict, along with a lethal injection, and in Kentucky and Tennessee, only those who committed a crime earlier than a certain date have the right to choose to use the electric chair (in Kentucky - April 1, 1998, in Tennessee - January 1, 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 a "cruel and unusual punishment" prohibited by the constitution. In Oklahoma, it can only be used in strictly specified cases, for example, if all other methods of execution are found unconstitutional at the time of the execution of the death sentence.

During 2004 this method of execution was used only once, in 2005 it was never used, in 2006 - once.

The last known case of using the electric chair was on March 18, 2010, when Paul Powell, a racist murderer, was executed in Virginia, who killed a girl for dating an African American, and also raped and tried to kill her sister.

Device and principle of operation

The electric chair is a chair made of dielectric material with armrests and a high back, equipped with straps for rigid fixation of the sentenced. Hands are attached to the armrests, legs - in special clamps on the legs of the chair. The chair also comes with a helmet. Electrical contacts are connected to the ankle attachment points and to the helmet. The technical support includes a step-up transformer. During the execution, an alternating current with a voltage of about 2700 is supplied to the contacts, the current limiting system maintains a current through the body of the convict of the order of 5. (The figures given are for the electric chair used in Massachusetts, as described in section .) The current and voltage are limited so that the condemned person does not burst into flames during the execution.

The chair's power management system has a power-on protection that must be deactivated immediately before execution. responsible person with 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 the current turns on only one of them. This order is used so that no one, including the performers themselves, could know who actually carried out the execution (by analogy with the well-known type of execution, when parts of the shooters are given weapons loaded with blank cartridges).

The order of execution

The convict is seated in an electric chair, the hands are attached to the armrests, and the legs are attached to the foot contact mounts. Before putting the helmet on, a hood is put on the suicide bomber's head, or his eyes are sealed. The helmet is put on the head of the convict, on which the hair on the top of the head is shaved before execution. A sponge impregnated with saline is inserted into the helmet, this is done in order to ensure minimal electrical resistance to contact in the helmet with the head and, thus, hasten death and alleviate the physical suffering of the convict. The torso is fixed 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 the number of inclusions and time intervals may vary). After turning off the power, the doctor must make sure that the convict is dead. In some US states and states, if death does not occur, the operation may continue. In the laws of others, a pardon is provided if the convict miraculously survived three switching on of the current for one minute. William Vandiver was killed only after the fifth discharge of current (October 16, 1985, Indiana (1001 deaths, A.P. Lavrin)).

Humanity of execution in the electric chair

The electric chair was introduced as a humane means of execution, allowing a criminal to be put to death without causing him unnecessary suffering. Supporters of this type of execution claim that it is painless - the electric current of the parameters used destroys departments nervous system, responsible for the sensation and awareness of pain, in a time twenty to thirty times less than is necessary for a person to feel pain. Opponents of the electric chair point out that these claims are the product of theoretical calculations, not proven fact.

In some cases, before the onset of death, it is necessary to pass a current through the body of the executed for several minutes or even longer. In this case, the executed person may experience spontaneous urination, defecation, vomiting, including blood, darkening and charring of the skin. There were precedents that the eyes of the executed person burst or went out of their sockets. The room smells of burnt flesh, and smoke may rise. Cases of fire are known (the hair on the head catches fire). In the event of a malfunction in the operation of the equipment or any violation of the rules of use, death may not occur immediately. On the other hand, according to American organizations that advocate for the abolition of the death penalty, the number of such overlays when using the electric chair is still significantly less than when executed by lethal injection.

Story

The creation of the electric chair is associated with the name of Thomas Edison. In the United States, Edison, who organized the first DC power supply system, actively competed with new AC-based power supply systems, which was called the war of currents. Edison convinced consumers of the shortcomings of the competitor's system, promoted the danger of such systems, including 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 the 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 into the press: even the most experienced the executioner sometimes could not foresee the nuances, and death did not come from a fracture of the vertebrae, as was supposed, but from strangulation, which is more painful.

The increasing use of electricity was naturally accompanied by occasional accidents resulting 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 electric generator. Struck by how quickly and apparently painlessly death came, Southwick turned to a friend, Senator David McMillan, with a proposal to replace the rope with wires. He asked the New York State Legislature to consider the prospect of using electricity on death row to stop hanging. In 1886, a commission was set up to investigate the question "as to the most humane and commendable method of carrying out the death penalty." 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 "Edisonina" (although the prison population of America calls him "yellow mother" or " old smokehouse"). Inventor arranged in West Orange (English) Russian (NJ) revealing experience: several cats and dogs were lured onto a metal plate energized with 1000 VAC. In 1888, the New York State Legislature passed a law establishing electrocution as the state's method of carrying out death sentences.

In the latter half of 1888, inventor Harold Brown and Columbia University employee Fred Peterson conducted research in the Edison Laboratories on the use of electricity for the death penalty. Within a few months, more than two dozen dogs were electrocuted, according to the results of the experiments, on December 12, 1888, the group presented a report to the New York State Forensic Society recommending an electric chair as an execution tool (other options were also considered, including a tank with water and a table with a rubber coating). On January 1, 1889, the Electric Execution Act went into effect in New York State.

The 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 introduction of the electric chair law, Westinghouse refused to supply alternating current generators to prisons, as a result of which Edison and Brown had to buy generators in a roundabout way.

The first people sentenced to death in the electric chair were William Kemmler and Joseph Chapleau (the first for the murder of his mistress, the second for the murder of a neighbor). Chapleau was pardoned and received a life sentence. Westinghouse also tried to save Kemmler, for which he hired lawyers who demanded an appeal against the verdict on the basis that the execution in the electric chair fell 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 Davies, an electrician at Auburn Jail, 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 in the electric chair at Auburn Prison. Although one of the reporters stated: “He didn’t hurt at all!”, In reality, the execution did not go quite smoothly: after the first turn on of the current, Kemmler was still alive, the current had to be turned on again. George Westinghouse commented on the execution with the words: "They would have done better with an ax" (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 states and became the most popular execution tool in America. In just over a hundred years of use, more than 4,300 people have been executed in the electric chair.

Conceived as a means of discrediting AC power systems, the electric chair just failed to perform 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 the development of this technology.

Outside USA

There are known cases of the use of home-made electric chairs as a tool of torture by various organized crime groups at the PSP, in particular, the "slave owner" Alexander Komin from Vyatskiye Polyany used a home-made electric chair to kill one of his prisoners.

Famous people who were executed in the electric chair

• William Kemmler William Kemmler) (, New York), the first person in the world to be executed in the electric chair; killed his mistress with an ax
• Martha Place (English) Martha Place) (, New York), the first woman executed in the electric chair; was found guilty of murdering her 17-year-old stepdaughter (the girl was strangled by her stepmother)
• Leon Czolgosz Leon Czolgosz) ( , New York), assassin of President McKinley
• Chester Gillette (ur. Chester Gillette) ( , New York)
• Arthur Hodges. Arthur Hodges) ( , Arkansas)
• Charles Becker (ur. Charles Becker) ( , New York)
• Sacco and Vanzetti Sacco and Vanzetti) ( , Massachusetts), executed on trumped-up charges, became a textbook example of politically motivated persecution.
• Ruth Snyder Ruth Snyder) ( , New York)
• Giuseppe Zangara (ur. Giuseppe Zangara) (, Florida), attempted on the life of President-elect F. Roosevelt and killed the mayor of Chicago
• Albert Fish. Albert Fish) ( , New York
• Bruno Hauptmann (ur. Bruno Hauptmann) (, New Jersey), found guilty of kidnapping and murdering the young son of Charles Lindbergh
• Anna Maria Han Anna Marie Hahn) ( , Ohio
• Herman and Paul Petrillo Herman and Paul Petrillo) ( , Pennsylvania)
• Nazi Agents (Washington, DC)
• Louis Lepke (ur. Louis Lepke) ( , New York)
• Lena Baker (ur. Lena Baker) ()
• Willie Francis Willie Francis) ( , Louisiana)
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Julius and Ethel Rosenberg) (, New York), executed for espionage - the transfer of information about the American nuclear bomb to Soviet agents. Previously, it was believed that their guilt was not fully proven. The now declassified materials of the Venona Project have proven Julius' involvement in espionage.
• Martin, Rhonda Bell Rhonda Belle Martin) ( , Alabama), American serial killer
• Charles Starkweather (ur. Charles Starkweather) ( , Nebraska), American serial killer
• James French (ur. James French) ()
• John Spenkelink John Spenkelink) (1979, Florida) - the first person executed in the electric chair after the abolition of the moratorium on the death penalty (he was convicted even before the moratorium was introduced).
• Larry da Silva Larry da Silva) (1979) - his execution was shown in the documentary film Faces of Death
• John Louise Evans John Louis Evans) ( , Alabama)
• Tad Bundy (English) Ted Bundy) ( , Florida , American serial killer)
• Donald Gaskins Donald Henry Gaskins, Jr.(), American serial killer
• John Joubert John Joubert (), Nebraska), American serial killer
• Pedro Medina Pedro Medina) ( , Florida)
• Gerald Stano (English) Gerald Eugene Stano) (), Florida - American serial killer (41 victims).
• Buenoano, Judias Judia Buenoano) (, Florida) - American serial killer.
• Allen Lee Davis Allen Lee Davis) ( , Florida)
• Earl Conrad Bramblett Earl Conrad Bramblett) ( , Virginia)
• James Neil Tucker James Neil Tucker) ( , South Carolina)
• Brandon Headrick (ur. Brandon Hedrick) ( , Virginia)

In culture

In literature

In music

• The execution in the electric chair was reflected in the song "Ride the Lightning" by Metallica and "Electrocution" by Sodom.
• In the video for the song "Killed by Death" by Motorhead, the police electrocute frontman Lemmy, who at the end of the video comes to life and leaves own grave on a motorcycle.
• The electric chair as an element of a stage show is used at concerts by American shock rocker Alice Cooper.
• In Madonna's "Die Another Day" video, she is put in the electric chair, but she escapes; also on the Re-Invention World Tour, Madonna sang the song "Lament" in the electric chair.
• The song "The Mercy Seat" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is written from the perspective of a man on death row. The title of the song refers both to God's throne and to the electric chair.
• In the clip Nogu Svelo! "S.O.S in the Ass" events of some sort erotic game turn around the electric chair.
• In Nike Borzov's video "The Last Song", he is executed in the electric chair.
• In Philip Kirkorov's video "You Will Believe", the protagonist is put in an electric chair. One second before the power-on time, the execution is cancelled.
• In the video for Eminem's song "We Made You" there is a scene where he is sentenced to death and the sentence is carried out. However, Eminem does not even feel discomfort.
• Rage Against The Machine's "No Shelter" video features a mock electric chair execution of American anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti.

• The electric chair is mentioned in the song "Fucking Police" by Metal Corrosion, as well as in "Song Without Words" by Kino.

To the cinema

• In the film "Angels with Dirty Faces" one of the main characters of the film, Rocky, was executed in the electric chair.
• In the movie "Sin City" one of the characters was also executed by means of an electric chair, while he was killed after only two execution attempts.
• In The Crow 3 Salvation, the protagonist, Alex Corvis, was executed in the electric chair. The main antagonist of the film also accepts death in the electric chair.
• In the film "Monster's Ball", the artist was executed in the electric chair.
• In the film "Constantine: Lord of Darkness" the hero of the film uses the electric chair of Sing Sing Prison to travel to hell.
• The film The Green Mile shows the execution of a death sentence using the electric chair.
• In the movie "Neither Dead nor Alive", a convict is brought to the reopened Alcatraz prison for execution in the electric chair.
• In the movie "Death Man" (in the original - "Alive") main character was sentenced to death by electric chair, but survived.
• In one of the episodes of the third season of the Quantum Leap series, called "The Last Dance Before Execution", Sam Beckett, the main character, becomes a criminal sentenced to be executed in the electric chair.
• In the movie Passenger 57, the terrorist Charles Rein is sent by plane to Los Angeles for execution in the electric chair.
• In the Escape series, the executions of Lincoln Burrows and the General.
• In the horror film Electroshock (1989), the main villain was executed in a chair, but he survived using the electric shock to rise from the dead.
• In the horror film Dead Man Walking (1936), a group of criminals kill a judge and frame John Ellman (Boris Karloff), who is accused of murder and sentenced to death in the electric chair. Later, two witnesses are found in his favor, but just at the moment when he finally manages to get through to the prison, the execution is carried out.
• The film The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) ends with protagonist Ed Crane preparing to be executed by the electric chair.
• The first episode of the first season of the TV series Tales from the Crypt (1989) tells about a prison executioner who has become so enamored of his electric profession that he ends up in the electric chair himself.
• Toward the end of the film "Supercop", the protagonist is tried to be executed by means of an electric chair, but he, having superpowers, transfers the tension to the spectators of the execution and the executioner.
• In The Lonely Hearts movie's finale, the murderous lovers (Salma Hayek and Jared Leto) are executed using the electric chair. The execution scene abounds large quantity physiological details and details of death in the electric chair.
• The film The Faces of Death shows footage of the death penalty in the electric chair.

In computer games

• In the first part of Unreal, the protagonist, wandering around a crashed space prison, can find a sentenced prisoner in an electric chair. After the ship crashes, the prisoner may already be dead, but the player has the ability to "finish him off" by activating the chair.

Execution in the electric chair until recently was considered one of the most humane ways to kill criminals. However, over the years of application, it turned out that this type of execution is by no means completely painless, but, on the contrary, can cause terrible torment to the convict. What can happen to a person who gets into the electric chair?

History of the electric chair

Criminals were executed in the electric chair in late XIX century, when supporters of the "progressive" society decided that earlier existing species executions such as burning at the stake, hanging and beheading are inhumane. From their point of view, the criminal should not suffer additionally in the process of execution: after all, he is already being deprived of the most precious thing - his life.

It is believed that the first model of the electric chair was invented in 1888 by Harold Brown, who worked for the Thomas Edison Company. According to others, the inventor of the electric chair was the dentist Albert Southwick.

The essence of the execution is this. The convict is shaved head and back of the leg. Then the torso and arms are firmly tied with straps to a chair made of dielectric, with a high back and armrests. Legs are fixed with special clamps. At first, the criminals were blindfolded, then they began to put a hood on their heads, and in recent times- a special mask. One electrode is attached to the head, on which the helmet is put on, the other to the leg. The executioner turns on the switch button, which passes through the body an alternating current with a power of up to 5 amperes and a voltage of 1700 to 2400 volts. An execution usually takes about two minutes. Two discharges are given, each is switched on for one minute, the interval between them is 10 seconds. Death, which should occur from cardiac arrest, is mandatory recorded by the doctor.

First this method The execution was applied on August 6, 1890 in the Auburn prison of the US state of New York to William Kemmler, convicted of the murder of his mistress Tilly Zeigler.

Up to now, more than 4,000 people have been executed in this way in the United States. Also, a similar type of execution was used in the Philippines. The communist spouses Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who worked for Soviet intelligence, also ended their lives in the electric chair.

"False" procedure

It was assumed that when passing through the body electric current the person will die immediately. But this did not always happen. Often, eyewitnesses had to observe how people put in an 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 uttered piercing cries during the execution ... Almost always, after the discharge was applied, a light smoke began to go from the skin and hair of the convict. There have also been cases when a person sitting in an electric chair caught fire and exploded in the head. Quite often, the burnt skin "glued" to the belts and the seat. The bodies of the executed turned out, as a rule, so hot that it was impossible to touch them, and then the “aroma” of burnt human flesh hovered in the room for a long time.

One of the protocols describes an episode when the convict was exposed to a discharge of 2450 volts 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 more times, until the offender finally died. The last time, his eyeballs even melted.

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

According to experts, when exposed to such a high voltage, the human body, including the brain and other internal organs, is literally fried alive. Even if death occurs quickly enough, at least a person feels the strongest muscle spasm throughout the body, as well as acute pain at the points of contact with the skin of the electrodes. This is usually followed by loss of consciousness. Here is the memoir of one of the survivors: “There was a taste of cold peanut butter in my mouth. I felt my head and left leg burning, so I tried with all my might 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 became painful as a result of various failures and malfunctions. So, on May 4, 1990, when the criminal Jesse D. Tafero was executed, a synthetic gasket under the helmet ignited, and the convict received third-fourth degree burns. A similar thing happened on March 25, 1997 with Pedro Medina. In both cases, the current had to be turned on several times. In total, the execution procedure took 6-7 minutes, so it could not be called quick and painless.

The story of the murderer of the whole family, Allen Lee Davis, caused a great resonance, to whom not only his mouth (instead of a gag), but also his nose was sealed with a leather tape before execution. In the end, he suffocated.

Chair or injection?

Over time, it became clear that the "humane" execution is in fact often a painful torture, and its use was limited. True, some people believe that the point here is not at all in humanity, but in the high cost of the procedure.

Currently, electric chair execution is used only in six US states - Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. Moreover, the convict is offered a choice - an electric chair or a lethal injection. The last time the above-mentioned measure was applied on January 16, 2013 in Virginia to Robert Gleason, who deliberately killed two of his cellmates in order to have his life sentence commuted to a death sentence.

In addition, there is a law in the USA: if after the third category the sentenced person survives, then he receives a pardon: they say, it means that this is the will of God ...

Assassin of President McKinley. During the 20th century, it was used in 26 states, but in recent decades it has been actively supplanted 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 - in Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia at the choice of the convict 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 to use the electric chair (in Kentucky - April 1, 1998, in Tennessee - January 1, 1999). In Tennessee and Virginia, the electric chair may also be used if 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 approval of the death sentence by the Florida Supreme Court, the default is lethal injection. The last electrocution in the state of 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 a "cruel and unusual punishment" prohibited by the constitution. In Arkansas and Oklahoma, it can only be used in strictly specified cases, for example, if all other methods of execution are found unconstitutional at the time of the execution of the death sentence.

In the state of Alabama, since 2018, the procedure for using execution methods has been following the regulation:

1. Lethal injection is routinely used
2. If the injection is "impossible" or declared unconstitutional, execution with pure nitrogen is applied ( the new kind execution should probably be applied using a special mask)
3. If injection and "nitrogen inhalation" are found unconstitutional, or if both methods of execution cannot be used, the electric chair is used.
4. If all three methods of execution are declared unconstitutional or if they cannot be executed, execution is used.

During 2001, 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2014-2018, this method of execution was never used, in all other years of the 21st century - once. In Kentucky and Nebraska, the electric chair was last used in 1997, in Georgia in 1998 (further use was banned by the Georgia Supreme Court in 2001), in Florida in 1999, in Alabama in 2002, in Tennessee - in 2007, in South Carolina - in 2008. AT last years the electric chair is only used in Virginia (between 2009 and 2013, three death row inmates were executed in the electric chair).

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

Related videos

Device and principle of operation

The electric chair is a chair made of dielectric material with armrests and a high back, equipped with straps for rigid fixation of the sentenced. Hands are attached to the armrests, legs - in special clamps on the legs of the chair. The chair also comes with a helmet. Electrical contacts are connected to the ankle attachment points and to the helmet. The technical support includes a step-up transformer. During the execution, an alternating current with a voltage of about 2700 is supplied to the contacts, the current limiting system maintains a current through the body of the convict of the order of 5. The current and voltage are limited so that the convict does not catch fire during the execution.

The chair's power management system has a power-on protection that must be deactivated immediately before the 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 the current turns on only one of them. This order is used so that no one, including the performers themselves, could know who actually carried out the execution (by analogy with the well-known type of execution, when parts of the shooters are given weapons loaded with blank cartridges).

The order of execution

The sentenced person is seated in an electric chair, the hands are attached to the armrests, and the legs are attached to the foot contact mounts. Before putting the helmet on, a hood is put on the suicide bomber's head, or his eyes are glued. The helmet is put on the head of the convict, on which the hair on the top of the head is shaved before execution. A sponge impregnated with saline is inserted into the helmet to ensure minimal electrical resistance to contact in the helmet with the head and thus hasten death and alleviate the physical suffering of the convict. The torso is fixed 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, the number of turns on and time intervals may vary). After turning off the power, the doctor must make sure that the convict is dead. In some US states and states, if death does not occur, the operation may continue. William Vandiver was killed only after the fifth electric 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 DC power supply system, actively competed with the new AC-based power supply systems, which was called the war of currents. Edison convinced consumers of the shortcomings of the competitor's system, promoted the danger of such systems, including 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 the 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 into the press: even the most experienced the executioner sometimes could not foresee the nuances, and death did not come from a fracture of the vertebrae, as was supposed, but from strangulation, which is more painful.

The increasing use of electricity was naturally accompanied by occasional accidents resulting 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 electric generator. Struck by how quickly and apparently painlessly death came, Southwick turned to a friend, Senator David McMillan, with a proposal to replace the rope with wires. He asked the New York State Legislature to consider the prospect of using electricity on death row to stop hanging. In 1886, a commission was set up to investigate the question "of the most humane and commendable mode of carrying out the death penalty." 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 "Edisonina" (although the prison population of America calls it "yellow mother" or "old smokehouse"). Inventor arranged in West Orange (English)Russian(NJ) revealing experience: several cats and dogs were lured onto a metal plate energized with 1000 VAC. In 1888, the New York State Legislature passed a law establishing electrocution as the state's method of carrying out death sentences.

In the latter half of 1888, inventor Harold Brown and Columbia University employee Fred Peterson conducted research in the Edison Laboratories on the use of electricity for the death penalty. Within a few months, more than two dozen dogs were electrocuted, according to the results of the experiments, on December 12, 1888, the group presented a report to the New York State Forensic Society recommending an electric chair as an execution tool (other options were also considered, including a tank with water and a table with a rubber coating). On January 1, 1889, the Electric Execution Act went into effect in New York State.

The 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 introduction of the electric chair law, Westinghouse refused to supply alternating current generators to prisons, as a result of which Edison and Brown had to buy generators in a roundabout way.

The first people sentenced to death in the electric chair were William Kemmler and Joseph Chapleau (the first for the murder of his mistress, the second for the murder of a neighbor). Chapleau was pardoned and received a life sentence. Westinghouse also tried to save Kemmler, for which he hired lawyers who demanded an appeal against the verdict on the basis that execution in the 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 Davies, an electrician at Auburn Jail, 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 in the electric chair at Auburn Prison. Although one of the reporters stated: “He didn’t hurt at all!”, In reality, the execution did not go quite smoothly: after the first turn on of the current, Kemmler was still alive, the current had to be turned on again. George Westinghouse commented on the execution with the words: "They would have done better with an ax" (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 states and became the most popular execution tool in America. In just over a hundred years of use, more than 4,300 people have been executed in the electric chair.

Conceived as a means of discrediting AC power systems, the electric chair just failed to perform 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 the development of this technology.

Outside USA

"Slave owner" Alexander Komin from Vyatskiye Polyany used a homemade electric chair to kill one of his prisoners.

Famous people who were executed in the electric chair

• William Kemmler (, New York) - 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 Gillett (, New York) is a murderer who became the prototype of a fictional character in Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy.
• Charles Becker (English)Russian(, New York) - a New York police officer, the first police officer in the United States to be 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) is a serial killer known as "Moon Maniac", "Grey Ghost", "Brooklyn Vampire", "Boogie Man", "Wisteria Werewolf".
• Bruno Richard Hauptmann (English)Russian(, New Jersey) - German criminal convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr.
• Anna Maria Khan ( Ohio State
• Herman and Paul Petrillo (, Pennsylvania) - the leaders of a gang of assassins Philadelphia poison ring.
• Herbert Haupt, Edward John Kerling, Richard Quirin, Heinrich Harm Heink, 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.
• Lena Baker () is an African-American woman who was executed for the murder of her employer.
• Willie Francis (, Louisiana) is a black juvenile delinquent who was sentenced to death and was twice executed in the electric chair (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 (Eng. Charles Starkweather) (, Nebraska) is an American serial killer, known as the "drunken killer."
• James French (English)Russian(, Oklahoma) - the last prisoner executed before the adoption of a moratorium on the death penalty in the United States in

Who invented the electric chair? Carpenter, electrician, scientist - such options come to mind. You will probably be surprised to learn that this person's profession was different. In this article we will answer the question: who invented the electric chair? It requires detailed consideration, since the history associated with it is very curious. Thomas Edison invented the incandescent light bulb in the late 19th century. Of course, this person 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.

An idea that came to Albert Southwick

Many 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 a dentist. This man was from Buffalo, New York. Whoever invented the electric chair (whose 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 the bare wires. This man died, Southwick thought then, painlessly and almost instantly. This incident led him to the idea that the execution with the use of electricity could replace, as a faster and more humane punishment, the hanging used at that time. Southwick first suggested using electricity to dispose of unwanted animals instead of drowning them. Colonel Rockwell, head of the Society for the Protection of Animals from Cruelty, liked the idea.

Commission conclusion

Southwick in 1882 conducted a series of experiments on animals and published his results in scientific newspapers. It is Albert who is often credited with the invention of 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 the execution using electricity is painless, which is its main advantage. McMillian advocated the retention of the death penalty. This idea attracted him as an argument against its abolition. McMillian relayed what he heard to D. B. Hill, Governor of New York. In 1886, a special commission was set up, which included Southwick (the profession of the man who invented the electric chair is a dentist, as already mentioned), Eluridge Gerry (politician) and Matthew Hale (judge). Her conclusion, which was set out in a 95-page report, was that best method execution of the death sentence - execution with the use of electricity. The state was recommended in this report to replace hanging as a new form of execution.

death penalty law

In 1888, on June 5, the governor signed the corresponding law, which was supposed to come into force from 1889. It remained to decide which type of electric current should be used: alternating or direct. How are they different? Let's figure it out.

AC and DC

Scientists from various countries long before the invention of Thomas Edison. However, Edison (pictured below) for the first time put into practice the theory developed before him. In 1879 the first power plant was built. Edison's system ran on direct current. However, it flows only in one direction, so it was impossible to supply current over a long distance. It was necessary to build power plants to provide the city medium size electricity.

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

Getting Started with AC

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

He wanted to make the use of alternating current profitable, but Edison's technology was more popular at the time. It was for Edison that Tesla worked, 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 more than a hundred cities used the alternating current system within a few years.

"Clash of the Titans"

In 1887, Edison began to discredit this system by requiring the collection of information from his workers on 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 of what type of current should be used for the death penalty. Nikola Tesla (pictured below) at the same time avoided any statements about Thomas and preferred to remain silent. But Thomas smashed Tesla with his characteristic categoricalness and enthusiasm. The "war of the currents" continued 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.

Pamphlet and speech by Edison

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 designed for the death penalty. The scientist in 1887 published the pamphlet "Warning". In it, he compared direct current with alternating current and pointed out the safety of the latter.

The speech before the commission of Thomas Edison made a strong impression. The inventor convinced all those present that when using alternating current, death from electricity is quick and painless. The commission to resolve this issue was faced with an alternative to the use of lethal injection, which is considered more humane than execution in the 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 were no competition between companies, as well as Thomas Edison's convincing speech before the commission. The issue was also that execution by lethal injection is 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 an electric chair (its photo is presented below). The unit used for it was called the Westinghouse chair, or the Westinghouse chair, a few decades later. In the spring of 1891, the following executions took place. 4 people were executed for different crimes. The method of execution has been adjusted. Became more powerful generator and thicker wires. The 2nd electrode was connected to the arm and not to the spine. These executions went more smoothly, and a new method was adopted by public opinion.

Execution of William Kemmler

William Kemmler, who killed his civil wife with an ax, was the first "tester" of this innovation. He was executed in the city of Obernai in 1890, on August 6th. For well-known reasons, he could not describe his feelings. Whoever invented the electric chair could not have foreseen what happened. The witnesses who were present at the time of the enactment of the sentence noted that the offender was still alive 15-20 seconds after the 1st category. I had to turn on the current for a longer time and with a higher voltage. The "experiment" was still painfully and for a long time brought to an end. This execution caused a lot of protests of the world and American public.

Electric chair murder

Let us describe the technology of murder using the electric chair. The offender sits on it and is tied with leather straps to a chair, securing the chest, hips, ankles and wrists. 2 copper electrodes are fixed on the body: one on the leg (for better conduction of electricity, the skin under it is shaved), and the other on the shaved crown. The electrodes are usually lubricated with a special gel in order to reduce skin burning and improve current conduction. An opaque mask is put on the face.

The executioner presses the switch button on the control panel, thereby giving the 1st charge, the voltage of which is from 1700 to 2400 volts, and the duration is approximately 30-60 seconds. The timer sets the time in advance and automatically turns off the current. The doctor, after two charges, 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 instantaneous cardiac arrest (i.e. clinical death) does not cause current to pass through the brain. It only prolongs the agony. Criminals are now slashed, and electrodes are inserted into the right thigh and left shoulder in order for the charge to pass through the heart and aorta.

Electric Chair - Cruel Punishment

Does it matter who invented the electric chair: a carpenter or an electrician? More importantly, this method of punishment is inhuman. Although all methods of execution are cruel to some extent, it is the electric chair that often causes 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 this species The death penalty was recognized under the influence of Leo Jones, a well-known 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, did not even suspect what fate was in store for the idea that had come 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 the suffering of the people.