TO KILL MEN WITHOUT PAIN.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1091, 26 September 1883, Page 2

TO KILL MEN WITHOUT PAIN.

A New York man has applied for a patent for 'what he/ terms “ A nim proved device for, executing criminals condemned to death.” It is a method of cansing instantaneous death without pain to the criminal, and without disfiguring his body. It consists of an ordinary armchair,,with legs containing some substance which will insulate the. body of the chair from the floor, Thp arras end in two brass knobs, on whiflij the hands of the criminal will rest. T)y. chair has a foot-rest on which is fitted a brass plate. The back of the chair is as high as a man’s shoulders. At the top is a small knob with a hole for a peg. The positive wire of a dynamo-electric mafchjne runs up , the back of the chair and ends iff*the knob. The negative wire runs to ai’resistance' coil under the’ chair, and thence to a brass plate in the foot-rest. Another positive wire runs to one of the brass knobs on the arms of the chair, and a second negative wire to the other knob. Tbe wires can be connected with a machine miles away by conductingwires.

The chair is in condition to be used in two ways, as the two sets of wires are not operated together. If the footr rest wire is used, some preparation is needed. A small silken collar is fitted tightly on the neck of the criminal. It has on the inside of the back a small brass button, which fits closely against the spinal process. It is connected with a small silk cable, which hangs loosely arid ends in a brass peg. This collar is put on the criminal in .his cell in the same manner as the noose end used in hangings. He is then brought out with feet bared, and is sealed in the chair. Straps fasten his arms to the, chair-arms and his legs to the chairlegs. The brass peg of the silk cable inserted in the hole in the brass knob the back of the chair, and is there held by a screw. The bare feet of the criminal rest on the brass plate of the foot-rest. The circuit would now be complete were it not that the positive wire is broken at a short distance from the chair. Connection can be established at once by. turning a switch or by pressing a button. The full charge of electricity enters the criminal’s body at the spinal cord, arid passes out at his feet. The resistance coil, which it meets under the chair, aggravates its force, and prevents it from injuring the dynamo machine on its return. The criminal is killed instantaneously and without pain, as the electricity acts much more quickly than the nerves of sensation.