Women & The Chair
The first woman.
Martha Place became the first woman to die in the chair when she
was electrocuted on March 20th 1899 at
New York’s Auburn prison for the murder of her step daughter Ida
in February of the same year.
An account of the execution in the National Police Gazette said
she was guided into the death chamber,
clutching a Bible. "Her eyes were closed, she was dressed in a
black gown with a few fancy frills at the bosom.
She wore russet slippers." A spot had been clipped near the crown
of her head to make room for the electrode.
Another electrode was fastened to her leg. A current of 1,760 volts
went through her body in an execution that
was "successful in every way".
Since 1890 more than 4,200 people have suffered death by electrocution.
It still continues to be used in several states today (notably
Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina)
614 prisoners died in the electric chair in New York’s Sing Sing
prison alone from 1890 to 1963
Of those 606 were male and 8 were female.
The women were:
Martha Place, aged 44 on March 20, 1899 (see above)
Ruth Snyder, aged 33 executed January 12th, 1928 (subject of a
very famous photograph taken at the moment
of her death and was taken by New York Daily News photographer
Tom Howard using a hidden 16-millimeter
one-shot camera strapped to his ankle, with the shutter release
controlled from his pocket. Ruth Snyder had
been convicted of murdering her husband.)
Anna Antonio, aged 27 executed August 9, 1934
Eva Coo, aged 41 executed June 27, 1935
Frances Creighton, aged 36 executed July 16, 1936
Helen Fowler, aged 37 executed November 16, 1944
Martha Jule Beck, aged 29 executed March 8, 1951
Ethel Rosenberg, aged 35 executed June 19, 1953 with her husband
Julias for treason.
Modern electrocutions.
More than ninety murderers have been electrocuted in the U.S.A.
since the Supreme Court reinstated capital
punishment in 1976, making it the second most common method (after
lethal injection). It is probably the most
gruesome to watch.
After being led into the execution chamber, the prisoner is strapped
into the chair with leather belts across the
chest, thighs, legs, and arms. Two copper electrodes are then attached
- one to the leg, a patch of which will
have been shaved bare to improve conductivity, and the other contained
within a helmet to the shaved head.
The electrodes are either soaked in brine or treated with gel (Electro-Creme)
to increase conductivity and
reduce burning.
A leather face mask or black face cloth is applied. The prisoner
will also be wearing a diaper.
The executioner presses a button on the control panel to deliver
a first shock of between 1700 and 2,400 volts,
which lasts for between thirty seconds and a minute. This is automatically
timed and controlled. The current
must be under 6 amps to ensure the body does not cook. Smoke usually
comes out of the prisoner's leg and
head. A doctor then examines the prisoner who if not dead is given
a further shock (In some states this is done
automatically by the control gear)
A third and fourth are given if necessary. (It took five jolts
to kill Ethel Rosenberg)
On average the process takes 2 min 10 seconds and two shocks are
given.
The first shock runs for up to one minute and normally destroys
the brain and central nervous system. It also
causes complete paralysis due to every muscle in the body contracting
and staying contracted whilst the current
is flowing. This makes heartbeat and respiration impossible. The
second shock continues the process to
ensure the heart beat does not resume. The prisoner is supposed
to be rendered unconscious in 1/240th of a
second.
After electrocution the body temperature rises to about 138º
F and is initially too hot to touch. heating destroys
the body’s proteins and "bakes" the organs.
Physical reactions include heaving chest, gurgles, foaming at the
mouth, bloody sweat, burning of the hair and
skin, and release of faeces.
The body has to be allowed to cool before an autopsy can be performed.
According to Robert H. Kirschner, the deputy chief medical examiner
of Cook County, Illinois, "The brain
appears cooked in most cases."
According to Judge Brennan the prisoner's eyeballs sometimes pop
out and rest on [his] cheeks. The prisoner
often defecates, urinates, and vomits blood and drool. The body
turns bright red as its temperature rises, and
the prisoner's flesh swells and his skin stretches to the point
of breaking. Sometimes the prisoner catches on
fire, particularly if he perspires excessively. Witnesses hear
a loud and sustained sound like bacon frying, and
the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh permeates the chamber.
There is some debate about what the electrocuted prisoner experiences
before he dies, many doctors believe
that he feels himself being burned to death and suffocating, since
the shock causes respiratory paralysis as well
as cardiac arrest. According to Harold Hillman, "It must feel very
similar to the medieval trial by ordeal of being
dropped in boiling oil." Because the energy of the shock paralyses
the prisoner's muscles, he cannot cry out.
"My mouth tasted like cold peanut butter. I felt a burning in my
head and my left leg, and I jumped against the
straps," Willie Francis, a 17-year-old who survived an attempted
execution in 1946, is reported to have said.
Francis was successfully executed a year later.
When things go wrong.
Though all methods of execution can be botched, electrocutions
go wrong frequently and dramatically, in part
because the equipment is old and hard to repair. At least five
have gone awry since 1983. A particularly
appalling instance of this took place on the 4th of May, 1990,
in the case of Jesse Joseph Tafero in Florida.
According to witnesses, when the executioner flipped the switch,
flames and smoke came out of Tafero's head,
which was covered by a mask and cap. Twelve-inch blue and orange
flames sprouted from both sides of the
mask. The power was stopped, and Tafero took several deep breaths.
The superintendent ordered the
executioner to halt the current, then try it again. And again.
Apparently a synthetic sponge, soaked in brine, had been substituted
for the natural one applied to Tafero's
head. This reduced the flow of electricity to as little as one
hundred volts, and ended up torturing the prisoner to
death. According to the state prison medical director, Frank Kligo,
who attended, it was "less than aesthetically
attractive."
Another electrocution in Florida went seriously wrong in 1997 when
Pedro Medina was executed on 25th
March.
Witnesses saw a blue and orange flame shoot 6-10 inches out of
the helmet covering Medina's head. It burned
for about 10 seconds, filling the chamber with acrid smoke and
the smell of burning flesh.
An investigation by prison officials blamed the flare-up on a corroded
brass screen used in the helmet.
Michael Morse and Jay Wiechart, both experienced in electric chair
design and operation blamed the
malfunction on a dry sponge used in conjunction with a wet sponge
in the helmet.
Electrocution was challenged through the Florida courts, by death
row inmate Leo Jones as a "cruel and
unusual" punishment, something which is banned under the American
constitution.
However a Florida Supreme Court hearing ruled by 3 to 1 on the
21st October 1997 that it use did not constitute
cruel or unusual punishment.
The electric chair seems to possess an especially gruesome fascination
and has been the subject of many
films.
With increasing mishaps and the increasing use of lethal injection
one feels that its days may be numbered.
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