Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 November 1901 — CZOLGOSZ IS DEAD. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CZOLGOSZ IS DEAD.

PRESIDENT M’KINLEY’S SLAYER PAYS THE PRICE OF MURDER. His Worthies* Life Is Taken b T Mandate of the Law Which He Despised— Quietly Execute 1 in the Soli* tarjr Prison Heath Chamber. Leon F. Czolgoaz, the murderer of President McKiulby, was electrocuted at T o’clock Tuesday morning in Auburn prison. The sentence of the court was that the execution of Czolgosz should take place during the week beginning Oct. 28, and Warden Mead selected Tuesday, the 29th, as the day when the law’s mandate should he carried out. On the morning of the execution no one except the witnesses was allowed to enter the prison gate, and even the possession of an invitation jvas not sufficient to admit the bearer unless he could be identified. There ha(j been tirenty-alx invitations issued and all were positively

non-transferable. The only newspaper men admitted were the representatives of the three press associations and the owners of the two Auburn newspapers. Since Czolgosz fell in an ecstasy of terror on the floor of Auburn prison as tho doors closed behind him he had to all practical purposes been buried alive. Not a word nor a sign cable to him from the outside world. His jailers guarded him with jealous care to see that he would receive no communication whatever, and that he would give none. Execution Very Simple. The execution itself, all of the details being attended to. was exceedingly simple. Upon being taken to Auburn from Buffalo Czolgosz was confined in the especially constructed death cell under tho constant eye of the death watch. Not one moment was he free from that awful surveillance. When the hour for the execution came Czolgosz was led by the guards into the death chamber. Near tho wall at one end of the room was an oak chair, constructed something after the manner of an ensy chair, with broad wooden arms. It rested upon a rubber matting, which insulated it completely. Attached to the back of the chair was an adjustable board, against which Czolgosz rested his back, and this board was equipped with a sliding rod to which was attached the “death mask,” a strap to he fastened around the head at the forehead. On the inner side of this strap were two small sponges, which pressed upon the temples and which were connected by wires with the rod in the back of the chair. This rod carried the electricity, conducted to it by heavy wires from the wall. There were straps fastened to the back of the chair to pass around the upper arms of the condemned man and hold the arms securely against the chair, other straps on the arms of the chair itself binding the forearms down and preventing the least struggle. Another stout strap on belt attached to the back of the chair passed across the abdomen of the prisoner and bound him securely to the seat. His ankles were also strapped to the foot rest at the bottom of the chair.

When all was in readiness two small electrodes fitted with moist sponges like those pressing against the forehead were placed against the bare calf of each leg, the trousers being turned up as far as the knee. When these electrodes were fastened into place the body of Czolgosz formed 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 at hig forehead through his body to the electrodes attached to his legs and thus back to the dynamo. AS soon as the electrodes were adjusted one of the officials selected for the purpose by the officer legally charged with the execution pulled down a handle on an electric switch, which completed the circnit, and in a fiftieth of a second about 2,200 volts of the deadly electricity shot through the body of the murderer and passed on through the wires. In that fraction of time it was all over. Leon F. Czolgosz, the slater of President McKinley, and as cowardly an assassin as the world ever knew, was dead as certainly as though the knife of a guillotine had descended upon his neck. In order to make assurance doubly sure, the deadly current was passed through Czolgosz’s body three times. The first time it was held on him for fifteen seconds and then in a moment it was again passed through him and again for a third time. Following that the body was taken to the prison morgue, where an autopsy was performed by Dr. Carlos F. MacDonald of New York and Dr. John Gerin, the prison physician. * ,

A New Method. Czolgosz was the first of the three assassins of American Presidents to be executed by the modern method in use in New York. Wilkes Booth was shot down by one of the pursuing soldiers and Gulteau was hanged. Time was when the assassin of a ruler was dragged to pieces by four horses attached to his four limbs and driven in opposite 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.

LEON F. CZOLGOSZ.