Edison and the Electric Chair_ A Story of Light and Death - Mark Essig [82]
"No, sir."
"You do not claim to understand anything about the structure of the human body?"
"No, sir, only generally"
"That is," Cockran said, "you know we all have got arms and legs—you mean you have got an idea?"
"Got a good idea of what is inside of us."
"Now, you do not even know what the component parts of the human blood are, do you?"
"Pretty near."
"What are they?"
"Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen."
"Now you have mentioned pretty much every gas, haven't you?"
"I cannot help it; that answers the question."
Cockran turned to the question of whether electrocution would mutilate its victims, and Edison readily admitted that applying a really powerful current might cause burning.
"You would burn him up quick?"
"Carbonize him," Edison said.
"Right away?"
"Instantly."
"Suppose you took this wicked Westinghouse current"—Cockran's voice was heavy with sarcasm—"the one that is going to be used on Kemmler . . . suppose you kept it up for five or six minutes with 1,500 volts—with the extra exciting dynamo working, and all other appliances that would get it in its most wicked and aggravating form-how long would it take before you would get him to feel the heat?"30
"I think his temperature might rise up about four or five degrees above normal, and continue there until he was mummified, until the water had all been evaporated out of him."
"That is a new term," Cockran observed. "You think Kemmler would 187 not be carbonized, but mummified?"
"Mummified," Edison said.31
HAVING FAILED to ruffle him on technical questions, Cockran pressed Edison on the rumors of conspiracy.
"Now, Mr. Edison, do you know Mr. Brown pretty well?"
"Fairly well. I have seen him about a dozen times."
"When did you first become aware of his existence?"
"I think the first time I saw him, he came out there about this very business, to Orange."
"And he was a stranger to you then?"
"I think so. I do not think I had ever seen him before."
"Did he come up there and ask you to let him have your laboratory for the purpose of killing dogs?"
"He wanted to try some experiments."
"Are you in the habit of giving your laboratory to everybody that asks you?"
"Yes, sometimes I let them experiment there."
"Might I entertain the hope that I might be allowed myself to go there?"
"Yes, sir," Edison replied with a smile. "You can come at any time. I will be glad to see you."
"Mr. Brown evidently commended himself to your approval during these experiments."
"He seemed to be a pretty nice kind of fellow, and it was no trouble to me, and I let him do it."
Cockran decided to try a more direct approach: "Now, Mr. Edison, there is a great degree of feeling between you and Mr. Westinghouse?"
Edison paused for several beats. "I do not dislike Mr. Westinghouse," he said finally.32
"There is a contest between you in the courts, isn't there?"
"Yes, sir."
"And in relation to some of these electric-light inventions?"
"Yes, sir."
Surprisingly, Cockran let the matter drop there. As the lawyer paused, Referee Becker asked Edison whether an electrician could operate the execution machinery without hurting himself. "Yes, sir," Edison said.
Cockran jumped in: "That is, you believe he can. You do not know anything about it."
"Of course I have got to testify to my belief," Edison retorted. "I have not killed anybody yet."33
Cockran had had enough. He lit Edison's cigar and dismissed him from the stand.34
THE KEMMLER HEARINGS exposed profound disagreement among electricians concerning whether electricity could be counted on to kill, and physicians betrayed their ignorance about the effects of electricity on the body. Elbridge Gerry, the chairman of the death penalty commission, admitted that it was Edison who had persuaded him to back electricity. Yet Edison admitted that he knew almost nothing about human physiology or the details of electrical killing. Despite all of this the press, much like Gerry, remained in thrall to Edison's views. The World contrasted "the confused, heterogeneous and imbecile testimony" of the law's opponents