Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1901 — V HOW CZ.OLGOSZ, WILL DIE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

V HOW CZ.OLGOSZ, WILL DIE.

The method to be employed In the legal execution of Assassin Czolgosz Is thoroughly in keeping with the progress of the eenturies. He is to die by the latest and most approved form of capital punishment, electrocution. While the manner of his taking off is -perhaps, a minor incident compared with the major fact that he is to pay the penalty of his life for his crime, it 1s a commentary on the advancement of the world that an assassin guilty of the most heinous offense is to be executed, not as in the old days by a more barbarous and painful death than that meted out to other murderers, but in the most humane method approved ♦y the laws, of the state in which he ■was convicted. Time was when the

assassin of a ruler was dragged to pieces by four horses at'ached to his four limbs and driven in opposite directions. In some of the oriental countries to this day the most cruel and revolting tortures are reserved for those who even attempt the life of •a potentate or are suspected of complicity in plots against him. Boiling in oil, drawing and quartering are among the least terrible of these punishments, ■while the lopping off of single members from the living body until death lelieves the victim is a common punishment for notable crimes. Means of Death Humane. In China to this day criminals suspected of plots against the emperor or other high officials are placed in a bamboo eage and kept constantly awake by their guards until death from fatigue ensues. They are prod•ded with sharp instruments on the least sign of sleep and their sufferings ■are impossible to describe after three or four days of this tbrture. But Czolgosz, who woulld have met a fate as terrible as any of these had he committed a like crime in an oriental •country, or even in many European countries, is to meet death in the form declared to be most humane and practically painless by medical men. A current of electric ty is to be shot through bls body, paralyzing the heart action instantly and causing death in a fraction of a second. In the familiar phrase of the street, “he will never know what struck him” after the electrician concealed in an inner room moves the fatal switch which will send 2,000 or more volts of the mysterious current through his body.

Result of Long Agitation. More than ten years ago the agitation looking to the abodtlon of hanging was begun in New York state. After several magazine and newspaper articles had been published expressing the opinions of eminent physicians and criminokgists on every phase of the subject, a commission was appointed by the leglsla‘ure to make an exhaustive inquiry into the subject. This investigation dragged along for several years, during which time the matter was thoroughly exploited In the newspapers. and at last a favorable report was submitted recommending that electricity be substituted as a death agent for the time honored rope’s end, which had been used in most English speaking countries for hundreds of years. A bill was passed by the legislature authorizing the change in 1897 and it was ordered in the law that all executions should take place In the state penitentiaries. Electrocution chambers were constructed at Sing Sing and Auburn, equipped with the “death chair” which superseded the old gallows, wires which took the place of the rope and an electric switchboard which performs the functions of the old “trap.” Death b Instantaneous. Several executions have taken place

under the new conditions and with results which more than verified all the claims of the physicians. Autopsies were held on the bodies of the first criminals executed in order that the surgeons and officials might learn exactly what effect the tremendous current had upon the tissues and organs of the body, and discover if possible in that way whether death was instantaneous. It was found that the blood was coagulated and other indications went to prove that electrocution was a certain, instantaneous and practically painless form of death. This is what awaits the assassin who murdered President McKinley and plunged the nation into grief. Under the law he has an interval of twenty-one days be-

tween the date of his sentence and his execution in order that any legal stays of proceedings may be brought by his attorneys before the higher courts, but in the present case, of course, nothing of the kind will be attempted. The Chair of Death. The condemned man will be led by guards into the death chamber in the Auburn penitentiary. Near the wall at one end of the room is an oak chair, constructed something after the manner, of an easy chair, with broad wooden arms. It rests upon a rubber matting,which insulates it completely. Attached to the back of the chair is an adjustable board, against which Czolgosz will rest his back, and this board is equipped with a sliding rod to which is attached the “death mask,” a strap which can be fastened around the head at the forehead. On the inner side*of this strap are two small sponges, which press upon the temples and which are connected by wires with the rod in the back of the chair. This rod carries the electricity, conducted to it by heavy wires from the wall. There are straps fastened to the back of the chair to pass around the upper arms of the condemned man and holding the arms securely against the chair, other straps dn the arms of the chair itself binding the forearms down and preventing the least struggle. Another stout strap or belt attached to the back of the chair passes across the abdomen of the prisoner and binds him securely to the seat. His ankles are also strapped to the foot rest at the bottom of the chair.

When all is in readiness two small electrodes fitted with moist sponges like those pressing gainst the forehead are placed against the bare calf of each leg, the trousers either being slit for the purpose or turned up as far as the knee. When these electrodes are fastened into place the body of Czolgosz will form part of a circuit from the wires at his head to those at his legs, and any current entering the upper wires must pass from the electrodes attached to his legs and thus back to the dynamo. Method b Simple. The execution itself, these details being attended to, is exceedingly simple. Upon the wall of the death chamber is a large switch board and a number of gauges which register the number of volts of current passing over the wires. One of the officials selected for the purpose, either the sheriff or some other officer legally charged with the execution, pulls down a handle on a switch, which completes the circuit, and in a fiftieth of a second about 2,200 volts of the deadly electricity leaps through the body of the murderer and passes on through the wires. Tn that fraction of time It Is all over. He Is dead as certainly as though a guillotine had descended upon his neck. The current is usually allowed to remain at that Intensity for about ten seconds,

when it is reduced to 1,800 volts. After several seconds, in order to make assurance doubly sure, the current is again Increased to upward of 2,000 volts and then cut off. The execution is over in less than a minute, the penalty demanded by the law has been paid. Death la Painless. This method of execution has met with so much favor from criminologists, physicians and humanitarians that it has been adopted by several other states, notably Massachusetts and Ohio. It is an improvement in hanging from several standpoints, being swift, sure and painless, and the removal of the body within a minute after the current is turned on is a great advance from the old method, where a man was allowed to hang for from .ten to fifteen minutes slowly dying, while a jury of doctors counted his failing pulse beats and finally pronounced him dead. There are no pulse-beats in the electric-chair execution. The movement of the handle on the switch board is practically simultaneous with the stoppage of the heart, the obliteration of all sense and feeling and immediate death. Since the imposition of sentence Czolgosz has Jost the nerve which carried him through the ordeal of the trial and has col'apsed a’most completely. The chancas are that by the time the day of his execution arrives he will have to be dragged or carried to the chair. His collapse occurred on his arrival at Auburn pen'tentiary at 3 o’clock on the morning after his sentence was pronounced in Buffalo. Up to that time he had carried himself marvelously well. He stood the trying test in the courtroom and even the Imposition of sentence without a visible weakening and marched back to his cell almost as jauntily as- though he had been acquitted. Scene of Horror Expected. But the people of Auburn had heard that he would arrive that morning, and a mob of about 300 had assembled at the station. When the train pulled in tlere was an outcry from the mob for the murderer’s blood. As he was hustled from the train to the prison fists struck at him and hands reached over the officers’ shoulders to seize him. Immediately he collapsed and became panic-stricken. Falling upon the floor of his cell, he screamed with fear and agony and begged the officers not to give him up to the mob. That seemed to be his greatest sea he would be lynched. As- the days passed he grew a bit quieter, but It is apparent to his guards that he has lost his nerve, and they fear he will make a pitiable spectacle of himself when the time comes for his last march on earth—that from his cell to the death chamber. An arrant coward, the chances are that he will be paralyzed with fear when he views the apparatus prepared for his death—the grisly chair, the head piece and the straps. It is, indeed, a spectacle which might make the most blustering braggart quail, and in the case of a pitiful coward like the man who murdered the president the effect will probably be distressing in the extreme to the sheriff and other officials charged with his legal execution. But they have little pity for him. Indeed, at the start before his trial the sheriff discovered that the guards stationed outside his cell were practicing a mild form of torture by keeping him awake at night. They managed to make noises which startled him every time he went to sleep; they talked or sung or whistled and gloried

in the fact that their endeavors were driving sleep from the brain of the murderer—a mild form of the Chinese torture which keeps criminals awake until they die. But as soon as the sheriff heard of this he put a stop to it, largely because he did not want Czolgosz to appear In court thin, drawn and haggard as though he had been persecuted In the jail. In the eyes of the law he was still innocent until he had been proven guilty, and orders were issued to feed him well and let him have plenty of sleep. The result was that when he came into court

he was fat and sleek after his two weeks of rest and good food and looked much better than lie did when he was arrested. May Make Trouble at Execution. But since his sentence he has changed his demeanor. Realizing that his clumsy efforts to feign insanity were deceiving no one, he dropped them after the trial and conducted himself in a quiet, orderly way, as though he were quite resigned to his fate and wanted only to have it hurried along and get it over with. But the Incident at Auburn, when the mob clamored for his blood, worked a complete change in him and seemed totake away whatever spirit of bravado he had up to that time. He has been a trembling, Whimpering wretch ever since and the chances are that he will be led to the execution shrieking with terror or practically unconscious from fear. But in that event the redeeming feature is that the spectacle will not last long. At a hang ng when a prisoner faints or st uggles there is always a painful scene, as it is necessary to have him on his feet in order to place the noose around his neck. With the electrocution chair this trouble is obviated. The most weakkneed and trembling of condemned men can be plac d in the chair and bound in the usual way without the slightest muscular aid on their own part. The current can be flashed through them and the crime has been expiated.

CHAIR OF DEATH IN THE EXECUTION ROOM AT AUBURN PRISON.

AN ORDEAL TO BE ENCOUNTERED BY THE ASSASSIN.