Edison and the Electric Chair_ A Story of Light and Death - Mark Essig [63]
On July 12 Kennelly and Brown wired a fox terrier to a direct-current dynamo, and the dog survived momentary shocks of 400, 600, and 800 volts. Finally, at 1,000 volts, it died. The second subject, a half-breed bulldog, died almost immediately after receiving a two-second shock of 800 volts alternating current. A few days later a half-breed shepherd was given 1,000 volts direct current, then, in succession, shocks of 1,100,1,200,1,300, and 1,400 volts. At each shock, Kennelly jotted in his notebook, the "dog yelped once but not much hurt." The shepherd was released. Next a "black mongrel" was subjected to increasing jolts with alternating current, and Kennelly recorded the grim results: at 300 volts, "dog howled for about 1 minute & struggled violently"; at 400 and 500, "dog yelped and struggled"; at 600, "dog yelped and groaned. Died in 90 seconds."20
On July 17 Kennelly killed a "yellow mongrel" with 500 volts direct current, with the electrodes attached to the dog's legs, as they had been in all the earlier experiments. Kennelly then applied 300 volts alternating current to the ears of a bull terrier. The dog showed little effect while the current was on, but when it was cut off, the animal bled from the eyes and appeared to be in great pain. Kennelly then "hastened to apply the whole power of the machine in order to terminate his sufferings."21
The dogs that died in these experiments had been bought from neighborhood boys at twenty-five cents a head. The Orange area was soon depopulated of strays, and Edison went looking for a new supply. Back in April he had received a letter from Henry Bergh, the president of the ASPCA, who had heard about the Buffalo SPCA's use of electricity to kill strays and wanted Edison's advice on the matter. The inventor had recommended "a small alternating machine." In July it was Edison's turn to ask a favor.22
A page from the laboratory notebook of Arthur Kennelly, Edison's chief electrician, showing a circuit arrangement for one of the experiments on dogs.
The Edison laboratory's dynamo room, where the dog-killing experiments took place.
"I have lately been trying various experiments on dogs with a view to finding how great a pressure and quantity of electricity it takes to kill them," Edison wrote to Bergh. Although he knew the pressure "within certain rough limits," Edison explained, he wanted to fix it more precisely. "Can you therefore aid me to obtain some goodsized animals for these experiments?"23
Bergh indignantly rejected Edison's request as "antagonistic to the principles which govern this Institution." The SPCA's goal was to use enough current "to produce instantaneous and merciful death," whereas Edison's efforts to determine the minimum lethal voltage were "calculated to inflict great suffering upon the animals." Edison, aware from his own experiments of the truth of Bergh's statement about suffering, quickly apologized.24
The experiments continued with dogs obtained in other ways. Most of the tests took place late at night, between ten and midnight. Edison normally welcomed visitors, but he kept these experiments as secret as possible. The lab workers, though, knew what was happening, alerted by the agonized howls of dogs. Edison's men stood outside the dynamo room and peered in through the windows to catch glimpses of the experiments.25
BROWN AND KENNELLY believed they were ready to prove that alternating current was more dangerous than direct, so they scheduled a public