Edison and the Electric Chair_ A Story of Light and Death - Mark Essig [109]
Kemmler's face brightened. He started to stand, then decided to remain seated. His feet were set wide on the stone floor, a hand on either knee, elbows akimbo. "Well, I wish everybody good luck in the world," he said in a deliberate voice. "I believe I am going to a good place."
"Amen," said the ministers.
At a nod from the warden, Kemmler stood. "Take off your coat, William," Durston said. Kemmler slipped off the coat and folded it neatly over his chair. The witnesses could see the slit that Veiling had cut below the waistband of his trousers. The warden bent down and began drawing the tail of Kemmler's shirt through the hole and cutting it off with scissors, dropping the scraps to the floor. When he was finished, a patch of skin at the base of the prisoner's spine was exposed to the warm, damp air. Durston motioned to the prisoner. Kemmler turned and lowered himself into the electric chair.
ON THE SECOND FLOOR of the east wing of the prison—more than 1,000 feet from the death chamber—was the Westinghouse dynamo, which was under the care of a Rochester electrician named Charles Barnes. Attached to the dynamo were wires made by the Edison Electric Company The wires, insulated in rubber and affixed to glass and porcelain insulators, ran out the window, over the roof, around the prison's ornamental dome, down the front wall, through a basement window, and into the switchboard room, which was under the direction of an electrician named Edwin F. Davis. The switchboard held two voltmeters, an ammeter (for measuring amperage), a bank of twenty incandescent lamps, and two jaw switches—metal bars eighteen inches long that swung in an arc of 180 degrees, from open to closed. The first switch allowed current to flow to the lamps, which were used, along with the meters, to gauge the strength and steadiness of the current. The second switch sent the current through wires that led to the adjoining room, where the electric chair was located.
Kemmler sat in the chair in a natural, easy posture. The warden had decided not to use the footrest, so Kemmler's feet rested on the floor. He lifted his arms high to allow the chest straps to be wrapped around him. The warden's hands trembled so much as he started to fasten the prisoner's arms that he could hardly thread the straps through the buckles. "It won't hurt you, Bill. It won't hurt you at all," said the warden, perhaps offering reassurance more to himself than to the prisoner, who did not appear to need it.
"Don't get excited, Joe," Kemmler said when Veiling began to fumble with the straps. "I want you to make a good job of this."
When the arm, leg, and body straps were cinched tight, Kemmler was completely immobilized. Durston pushed the rubber cup of the lower electrode through the hole in the back of Kemmler's trousers, and the spring mechanism held it tight against his spine. Durston slid the other electrode down against the ragged tonsure on Kemmler's head.
The prisoner moved his head from side to side, to show that it was not snug. "I guess you'd better make that a little tighter, Mr. Durston," he said, and the warden granted the request.
Durston affixed the leather mask, which pulled Kemmler's head hard and tight against a rubber-covered cushion on the chair's back. It covered the prisoner's chin, forehead, and eyes and smashed down his nose, but it left his mouth exposed.
Dr. Fell stepped forward with a syringe and soaked the sponges with a saltwater solution to lower resistance and prevent burning. Dr. Spitzka said, "God bless you, Kemmler," then nodded to the warden.
The Kemmler execution, as pictured in the New York Herald. The switchboard room was behind the door.
Durston edged over toward the door leading to the switchboard room.
"Good-bye, William," he said.
"Good-bye," came the