William Kemmler

William Kemmler (born May 9, 1860 in Buffalo , † August 6, 1890 in Auburn ) was the first person to be executed with the electric chair . He was sentenced to death after he was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend Matilda Ziegler with an ax on March 29, 1889 .

Career

Previously, on January 1, 1889, a law had come into force that provided for execution by electricity; this method was thought to be less cruel than the hitherto common hanging . The idea of electric killing went back to Thomas Alva Edison and his colleagues. With the supply of direct current they offered, these were in sharp competition with alternating current developed by Nikola Tesla and marketed commercially by George Westinghouse . Therefore, Edison and his co-workers had killed numerous animals with alternating current in public experiments for years to demonstrate that it was more dangerous (see current war ).

Kemmler's defense attorney tried in vain to prevent the execution, arguing that death from electricity was cruel. He was also supported by Westinghouse, but Edison spoke out in favor of the execution in order to underline the dangerousness of alternating current.

Kemmler was executed on August 6, 1890 at 6:00 am in Auburn Prison ( Auburn Correctional Facility ). At first they tried to carry out the execution with an electrical voltage of 1000 volts , but when the electricity was switched off after 17 seconds, Kemmler was still alive. Therefore the voltage was increased to 2000 volts. During the time in which the generator was recovering, the painful sounds of the badly burned Kemmler could be heard. The second attempt lasted about 70 seconds and resulted in Kemmler's death. Eyewitnesses reported that there was a smell of burned meat and smoke rose from Kemmler's head. Westinghouse later commented:

"They would have done better with an ax"
( "They would have done better with an ax ") .

Web links

Commons : William Kemmler - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Newspaper reports on Kemmlers execution (English) ( Memento of 18 August 2007 at the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

^ Robert Walsh: William Kemmler - The First Electrocution, August 6, 1890. ( Memento of September 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

personal data
SURNAME	Kemmler, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American murderer
DATE OF BIRTH	May 9, 1860
PLACE OF BIRTH	Buffalo , New York (State)
DATE OF DEATH	August 6, 1890
Place of death	New York City

[1] Robert Walsh: William Kemmler - The First Electrocution, August 6, 1890. ( Memento of September 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive )