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two electrodes, one at the lower back, the other at the head. Attached to the top of the chair's back was a figure-4-shaped frame that projected out over the seat and that could be raised or lowered, depending on the prisoner's height. Dangling from this frame was a bell-shaped piece of rubber containing the sponge-covered head electrode. A similar electrode was attached to the lower back of the chair so that it pressed against the victim's spine. The chair was bolted to—and insulated from—the floor, and it bristled with leather straps: two for each arm and leg, two for the torso, and a broad mask for the face. The death chair's seat was perforated with drainage holes, because death released the bladder and bowels.13

The first electric chair, designed by Dr. George Fell and built in Buffalo, featured a retractable wooden footrest.

On Monday morning, April 28, Reverend Houghton persuaded Kemmler to be baptized in preparation for his death. The minister called for a bowl of water, and the prisoner knelt on the floor as the water was poured over his neatly combed hair. Gertrude Durston also visited Kemmler. She told him they would not meet again in this world. Normally stoic, Kemmler began to weep. He made her a gift of fifty autographed cards to distribute as she wished. Mrs. Durston told him to keep his spirits up and trust in the warden. She bid him a hasty good-bye, and within the hour she had boarded a train that took her out of town. She wanted to be far away when William Kemmler died.14

"ELECTROCUTION: Painless Death of Murderer Kemmler." So read the headline in the Weekly Sentinel of Port Arthur, Ontario. The article reported that after Kemmler was strapped into the chair, "his spiritual adviser repeated slowly the words of the Lord's prayer, the doomed man repeating it after him. When he came to the words 'For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory' the electrician in charge of the apparatus touched the electric button sending the charge of over 7,000 volts through the chair and its unfortunate victim."15

It was a dramatic account, but it did not have the virtue of being true. More accurate reports of events in Auburn on April 29 could be found in the New York and Buffalo papers, which ran headlines such as "He Still Lives" and "Kemmler's Doom Delayed by Law." About noon a lawyer named Roger M. Sherman arrived from New York and presented Warden Durston with a writ of habeas corpus delaying the execution while an appeal was made to the U.S. Supreme Court.16

Warden Durston brought Kemmler the good news. "Well, Kemmler, you've got a reprieve," the warden said. "You have two months and perhaps longer to live." "All right," the prisoner replied. "It makes me feel a little easier." Since the human execution was called off, Warden Durston and about ten of the invited witnesses executed a calf in the death chamber, and Dr. Fell tried unsuccessfully to revive the animal with his Fell Motor. Harold Brown did not attend this calf killing. As he left town, he reminded reporters that his contract to supervise electrocution equipment for the state would expire on May i, and he said he would have nothing to do with Kemmler's execution, should it ever take place. Brown said that he was "glad to be relieved of the responsibility," although he did not explain why. Perhaps, having ensured that Westinghouse dynamos would be used, he considered his true purposes to have been fulfilled.17

NEWSPAPERS FIXED THE BLAME for this latest legal maneuver upon George Westinghouse. On the day of the reprieve, one of the Pittsburgh tycoon's lawyers was spotted on a train near Auburn, but he claimed to be on unrelated business.

A reporter buttonholed Roger Sherman as he left Auburn by train: "Mr. Sherman, who is your client?"

"Why, Kemmler."

"Have you seen him today?"

"No, I didn't care to."

"Have you ever seen him?"

"Well, I don't care to answer that question. It is of no public interest."

"Are you in any way connected with the Westinghouse people? Have they retained you to save Kemmler?"

"Absolutely, no. I do not know any one