One of the worst forms of torture known to mankind an Electric Chair was designed by a dentist. Dr. Alfred .P . Southwick was a dentist from Buffalo, New York, and was the inventor of the famous electric chair in the 1880s. Alfred got the idea after learning of a man who, after inadvertently touching a live electrical generator, passed quite swiftly and without apparent discomfort. In his opinion, using electricity instead of hanging would be a more merciful way to put someone to death. Southwick developed the electric chair as a means of execution in collaboration with medical experts and electricians. In New York, it was first applied in 1890.
On August 6, 1890, convicted murderer William Kemmler is believed to be the first man to be put in the electric chair for the first time. Kemmler was given the death penalty for using a hatchet to murder his wife, Matilda “Tillie Ziegler. Auburn Prison known to be in New York City was where Kemmler’s execution took place.
However as effective as the Dentist made it to be, the chair served its complications. The initial electrical shock did not kill the convicted murderer Kemmler, instead, he had a second, longer application before he passed away. The event brought up serious questions regarding the decency and efficacy of electrocution as a means of death. Despite this, the electric chair was in use for many years in the United States.
Main Image: New Haven Register
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