When the electric chair appeared. History of the invention of the electric chair

Invented for humane reasons electric chair turned out to be one of the cruelest ways death penalty.

War of the currents

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".
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 - the struggle between the power supply systems for direct and alternating current. systems adept direct current was Edison, AC - Nikola Tesla.
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 late XIX century, literally in love with electricity, at the same time the issue of humanizing the death penalty was discussed. 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 the 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 Edwin Davis, an electrician at Auburn Prison, built the first operating model new "death machine".

Humane theory

The humanity of the execution, according to the supporters of the invention, was that electricity rapidly destroying the brain and nervous system condemned, thus relieving him of his 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.
The "electric chair" itself is a chair made of dielectric material with armrests and high back, equipped with belts 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 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 ax.
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, a 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, who 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 almost 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" today 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 42-year-old Robert Gleason, who was executed in Virginia in January 2013, did. Convicted 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".

The United States, a country of democratic freedoms and the world's main bulwark of human rights, has constantly sought to make life and death easier for its citizens. So, 115 years ago in this state appeared the new kind killing criminals - the electric chair.

"humane" type of execution

Whatever the statistics say, there has always been a large percentage of especially dangerous criminals in the United States. Perhaps the fault is the contingent that historically flooded new uncharted lands - adventurers, robbers and treasure hunters. Such people were rarely stopped by moral principles; they were not afraid of killing their neighbor either. Perhaps it was the 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 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 allowed in 33 states, 7 of them still use the electric chair.

Before its invention, hanging was used in the USA. Prisoners were not always "lucky". If the cervical vertebrae broke, then death was relatively painless. Quite often, such a gift of fate did not happen, and the person died of 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, but in fact it is not. The opinions of historians on this issue are ambiguous. Who invented the electric chair? Edison, Brown or Southwick?

The idea of electrocution belongs to the dentist Albert Southwick. Once he saw how a drunkard stepped on bare wires and died instantly. It seemed to Mr. Southwick that the man's death was instantaneous and painless. He spoke about his idea to the head of the Society for the Protection of Animals from Cruelty, Colonel Rockwell. The dentist proposed to kill sick animals with electric current, and not to drown 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 the current as a tool for the death penalty. Macmillan was a supporter of this procedure, and when he heard that the current was less painful, he unconditionally agreed to submit the papers to the Senate in order to approve the procedure. In 1886, the law "On the study of the most humane kind On June 5, 1888, they signed a document "On the introduction of a new humane form of execution in the state of New York."

Which current is more efficient?

Humanists immediately faced the question of how to design the perfect electric chair. The law was passed, but the apparatus was not ready. In addition, the researchers did not know what kind 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 by 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 on how the procedure should proceed. After much discussion, engineer Harold Brown suggested that the prisoner be placed on a chair and electrodes attached 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 in the electric chair was supposed to reduce the torment of the criminal, reduce pain. The developers of the device cut out 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 beforehand. The electric chair voltage was 2000 volts. The legs and arms of the offender had to be rigidly fixed with straps. The current was supplied by a generator.

This technique was later improved. Now the wires are brought 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 on the scheduled date - August 6, 1890. The first person to be intentionally electrocuted was a Buffalo merchant, William Kemmler. In a fit of jealousy and a drunken stupor, he hacked his wife to death with an axe. The candidate was excellent, and they decided to test the electric chair on him. The prison guard was visibly nervous and could not cope with the trembling in his hands, which made it impossible to properly fasten the belts. Kemmler was even indignant and asked the warden to calm down. The switch was lowered by Edwin Davis. If we talk about who invented the electric chair, in terms of who designed it, then it was Mr. Davis. He was immediately given the nickname "Electrician of the State".

Tension ran through the wires, all those gathered began to enthusiastically exclaim that they had entered the era of humanity. But to the surprise of the witnesses, the perpetrator did not die. Then the current was given again, but the generators needed time to charge. During these few minutes, Kemmler groaned and gasped. The current was given again, the head of the criminal began to smoke, and he finally gave up his last breath. Some of those present noted that it would be faster with an ax.

Opponents of the electric chair

After the first killing of a person by electric current, it became clear that the method was not only not finalized - it was brutal and cruel. The first opponent of electric shock was John Westinghouse, but he hardly thought about the humanity of the issue. The entrepreneur did not want AC 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 apparatus would be the impetus for the emergence of human rights organizations and fighters for human rights? 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, electric chair execution is used only in the state of Virginia, in seven other states this type of execution is allowed. The lethal injection supplanted this "humane" device over time.

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

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

In 1882, Southwick began experimenting on animals, publishing his results in scientific papers.
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 by this idea as an argument against the abolition of the death penalty, because this type of execution cannot be called cruel and inhumane, therefore, supporters of the abolition of the death penalty will lose their most compelling arguments.
Macmillan relayed what he heard to New York Governor David Bennett Hill.

In 1886, the "Law for the establishment of a commission to investigate and present an opinion on the most humane and acceptable method of carrying out the death sentence" is adopted.
The commission included Southwick, Judge Matthew Hale and politician Eluridge Gerry.
The conclusion of the commission, set out on ninety-five pages of the report, was as follows: best method The execution of the death sentence is an execution using electricity.
The report recommended that the state replace hanging with a new type of execution.
Governor Hill signs the law on June 5, 1888, which was to take effect on January 1, 1889, and begin a new, humane punishment in the state of New York.

It remained to decide the question concerning the apparatus for carrying out the sentence and the question of what type of electric current should be used: direct or alternating.
It is worth considering the history associated with alternating and direct currents. How do they differ, and which current is more suitable for execution?
Long before the invention of Thomas Edison, scientists from different countries have worked on this subject, but no one has succeeded in using electricity in Everyday life. Edison put into practice the theory developed before him.
Edison's first power station 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 supply is not possible on long distance, had to build power plants, even to provide electricity to a medium-sized city.

The way out was found by the Croatian scientist Nikola Tesla. He developed the idea of using alternating current.
Alternating current can change direction several times per second, creating a magnetic field without losing electrical voltage.
AC voltage can be stepped up and down using transformers.
High voltage current can be transmitted over long distances with little loss, and then, through a step-down transformer, bring electricity to consumers.
Some cities used an alternating current system (but not designed by Tesla), 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 AC profitable, but Edison's DC 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 over 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 this. In 1887, he began to discredit the Westinghouse system by requiring his employees to collect information on deaths caused by alternating current, in the hope of proving that his system was safer for the public.

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

On June 5, 1888, the New York Evening Post published a letter from Harold Brown that warned of the dangers of alternating current. This letter caused an alarmed reaction in the 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. Two second-hand alternators were used in the experiments, since Westinghouse refused to sell his generators. Experiments were carried out on several dozen dogs, cats, and two horses.

The speech of the respected scientist Thomas Edison before the commission on the decision of the method of execution made a vivid impression. The legendary inventor convinced everyone present that death with the use of electricity is painless and quick, of course, in the case of using alternating current. The commission had the option of introducing 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.

Maybe many wouldn't suffer in the electric chair if there wasn't competition between campaigns or Edison's persuasive speech to the commission, though main question was that execution by lethal injection should be carried out with the help of doctors or by the doctors themselves, which is impossible for obvious reasons.

The first execution took place on January 1, 1889.
A few decades after this event, this "unit" was called the Westinghouse chair or "Westinghoused".

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

And the technology of killing with the help of an electric chair is as follows: the offender is seated on a chair, tied to it with leather straps and securing the wrists, ankles, hips and chest. Two copper electrodes are fixed on the body, one on the leg, the skin under it is usually shaved for better current conduction, and the second is applied to the shaved crown. Typically, the electrodes are lubricated with a special gel to improve current conduction and reduce skin burning. An opaque mask is put on the face.

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

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

Although all methods of execution are more or less cruel, the electric chair is characterized by frequent and tragic malfunctions that cause additional suffering for the convicted person, especially in cases where the equipment is old and needs to be repaired.

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

On August 6, 1890, humanity wrote a new page in its history. Scientific and 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 alternating current systems. For clarity, the inventor sometimes demonstrated eerie experiments, killing animals with alternating current.

In American society at the end of the 19th century, literally in love with electricity, the issue of humanizing the death penalty was simultaneously discussed. 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 idea of \u200b\u200bthe “electric death machine” came to the mind of an American dentist Albert Southwick. Once, in front of his eyes, a middle-aged drunkard touched the contacts of an 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.

The "electric chair" itself 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 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 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 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 in America did not build a new life, but simply 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

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 almost 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" today 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. Convicted 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".

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Subtitles

Application

The electric chair was first used in the United States on August 6, 1890, at the Auburn Penitentiary in New York State. William Kemmler, the murderer, became the first person to be executed in this manner. Eleven years later, Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of President McKinley, was executed in the same prison in the electric chair. 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 seven states - in Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia 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, Tennessee - January 1, 1999). In Tennessee and Virginia, the electric chair may also be used if components for lethal injection are not found. In Nebraska, the electric chair was used as the only method of execution, but on February 8, 2008, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that it was 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.

During 2001, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016, this method of execution was never used, in all other years of the 21st century - once. Kentucky and Nebraska last used the electric chair in 1997, Georgia in 1998 (further use was banned by the Georgia Supreme Court in 2001), Florida in 1999, Alabama in 2002, and 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 the state of Virginia.

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 person. 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. Part technical support step-up transformer included. 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 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 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 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. 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 1900s in the USA, Edison, who organized the first direct current power supply system, actively competed with new alternating current 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 death penalty (until the 80s of the 19th century, hanging was mainly used in the USA. Every now and then, horrific 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, of course, was accompanied by periodic accidents, as a result of which people died. 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 death sentences." At this stage, the famous Thomas Edison joined the history of the electric chair, so tenaciously that this chair, by analogy with the guillotine, could be called "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, the inventor Harold Brown and Fred Peterson of Columbia University 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.

William Kemmler and Joseph Chapleau were the first to be sentenced to death in the electric chair (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 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. Later, Edison was forced to admit that he 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, was the first woman to be executed in the electric chair.
Leon Czolgosz (, New York) - the assassin of President McKinley.
Chester Gillette (, 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) - a German criminal convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr.
Anna Maria Khan ( , Ohio) is an American serial killer.
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 who was sentenced to death.
Lina Baker () is an African American executed for the murder of her employer.