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The Electric Chair: An Unnatural American History
Since its first use in 1890, the electric chair has been the means of legal execution for over 4,300 individuals in 23 states. Its use in recent years has steadily declined, and in many states now the chair is used only as a museum display. This book provides a history of the electric chair and analyzes its features, its development, and the manner of its use.
279 pages, Hardcover
First published November 27, 1999
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About the author
Craig Brandon
12 books7 followersThe Wall Street Journal compared Craig's most recent book, The Five-Year Party" with Tom Wolfe's "I Am Charlotte Simmons" and it has been featured in The Huffington Post, The Atlantic, Forbes, ABC News, CNN, the Chronicle of Higher Education and dozens of blogs and online journals.
He spent 20 years as a newspaper reporter, 12 as a college writing teacher and now spends all his time on book projects. He lives with his wife in a small cottage on the side of a hill in Surry, New Hampshire.
He spent 20 years as a newspaper reporter, 12 as a college writing teacher and now spends all his time on book projects. He lives with his wife in a small cottage on the side of a hill in Surry, New Hampshire.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 12, 2022
The Electric Chair: An Unnatural American History [1999/2009] – ★★★★
This book is on the history of one of “the elephants in the room” in the US – the death penalty by electrocution. It talks in depth about the case of William Kemmler, a vegetable peddler from Buffalo, who became the first person to be executed by electric chair in America on 6 August 1890. Previously, Kemmler was convicted of murdering his common law wife Tillie Ziegler. It is this man or rather his death that became a pawn in the complex business and political game of inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and politicians, at the centre of which was the so-called “current war” waged by Edison (a proponent of the direct current (DC)) and Westinghouse (a proponent of the alternative current (AC)), both eager to prove that only their patented electricity was the way forward for American society, both for domestic and penal purposes.
The strongest parts of the book talk about the early history and how the public’s naivety about the nature of electricity played to the inventors and businessmen’s propositions: “the public ignorance, fear, awe and admiration of electricity were important factors in the development of the electric chair” [Brandon, McFarland: 1999: 13]. What was electricity, exactly?, many wondered at that time: is it “a wonderful power, a culmination of progress and science that would change their lives for the better”, or an “invisible, mysterious and…deadly force?” [Brandon, McFarland: 1999: 13]. Two names linked to the development of the electric chair in the US are that of Alfred P. Southwick (aka the “Father of the Electric Chair”) and Harold P. Brown. While Southwick, a rising dentist in Buffalo, was probably the first person to push the idea of executing convicts with electricity, electrical engineer Harold P. Brown became known for his bizarre experiments to produce the “most perfect electric chair”. The execution of Kemmler also happened in the midst of the fierce debate between death penalty abolitionists and its supporters, and while the first usage of the electric chair was debated, people were still recovering from seeing all the negative publicity directed at hanging as a method of execution, including newspaper articles showing many hangings where convicts’ necks did not break and they died slow and painful deaths.
Brandon’s book continues by talking about Kemmler’s numerous appeals of 1890, including to the Supreme Court on the basis that this type of execution would amount to a “cruel and unusual punishment”, and thus, contrary to the US Constitution, and his botched execution itself. Since Kemmler's death, whereby he did not die on the first attempt and died only after the second attempt was made, whereby the current was switched on for the whole seventy seconds, there have been many similar executions that did not go according to everyone’s plan, meaning that convicted people died painful and agonising deaths, ranging from a cardiac arrest and slow suffocation to being “burned” to death. Thus, the book’s final parts are all about the most infamous “electric chair” executions that happened from 1892 to 1974 (including the execution of Ruth Snyder in 1929), and from 1976 to 1998 (including the execution of Ted Bundy in 1989).
This book about America’s morbid history is surprisingly enlightening, engaging and, actually and unfortunately – still relevant. Death penalty is still a possibility in twenty-seven American states, though even in these states its usage frequency varies considerably. Though lethal injection is now a preferred method of execution in the majority of the states, electrocution is still possible in eight American states and, in South Carolina, it remains the primary method.
This book is on the history of one of “the elephants in the room” in the US – the death penalty by electrocution. It talks in depth about the case of William Kemmler, a vegetable peddler from Buffalo, who became the first person to be executed by electric chair in America on 6 August 1890. Previously, Kemmler was convicted of murdering his common law wife Tillie Ziegler. It is this man or rather his death that became a pawn in the complex business and political game of inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and politicians, at the centre of which was the so-called “current war” waged by Edison (a proponent of the direct current (DC)) and Westinghouse (a proponent of the alternative current (AC)), both eager to prove that only their patented electricity was the way forward for American society, both for domestic and penal purposes.
The strongest parts of the book talk about the early history and how the public’s naivety about the nature of electricity played to the inventors and businessmen’s propositions: “the public ignorance, fear, awe and admiration of electricity were important factors in the development of the electric chair” [Brandon, McFarland: 1999: 13]. What was electricity, exactly?, many wondered at that time: is it “a wonderful power, a culmination of progress and science that would change their lives for the better”, or an “invisible, mysterious and…deadly force?” [Brandon, McFarland: 1999: 13]. Two names linked to the development of the electric chair in the US are that of Alfred P. Southwick (aka the “Father of the Electric Chair”) and Harold P. Brown. While Southwick, a rising dentist in Buffalo, was probably the first person to push the idea of executing convicts with electricity, electrical engineer Harold P. Brown became known for his bizarre experiments to produce the “most perfect electric chair”. The execution of Kemmler also happened in the midst of the fierce debate between death penalty abolitionists and its supporters, and while the first usage of the electric chair was debated, people were still recovering from seeing all the negative publicity directed at hanging as a method of execution, including newspaper articles showing many hangings where convicts’ necks did not break and they died slow and painful deaths.
Brandon’s book continues by talking about Kemmler’s numerous appeals of 1890, including to the Supreme Court on the basis that this type of execution would amount to a “cruel and unusual punishment”, and thus, contrary to the US Constitution, and his botched execution itself. Since Kemmler's death, whereby he did not die on the first attempt and died only after the second attempt was made, whereby the current was switched on for the whole seventy seconds, there have been many similar executions that did not go according to everyone’s plan, meaning that convicted people died painful and agonising deaths, ranging from a cardiac arrest and slow suffocation to being “burned” to death. Thus, the book’s final parts are all about the most infamous “electric chair” executions that happened from 1892 to 1974 (including the execution of Ruth Snyder in 1929), and from 1976 to 1998 (including the execution of Ted Bundy in 1989).
This book about America’s morbid history is surprisingly enlightening, engaging and, actually and unfortunately – still relevant. Death penalty is still a possibility in twenty-seven American states, though even in these states its usage frequency varies considerably. Though lethal injection is now a preferred method of execution in the majority of the states, electrocution is still possible in eight American states and, in South Carolina, it remains the primary method.
October 21, 2020
The book is predominately a diatribe concerning capital punishment. Not quite the electrifying read I was hoping for concerning a shocking subject that I had hoped to get a charge out of reading (I just had to - somebody does). It does sport a nice photograph of the U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice who wrote the opinion approving the first use of the electric chair... Melville Fuller (Democrat).
Much of the story focuses on the suffering of the 'offenders' with virtually nothing concerning their victims and/or the life-long detrimental effects those types of crimes injected into their lives. It is considered cruel for anything but a quick, painless, carefree death for a capital offender. Though 'unusual' would be a hard swallow in the light of history: Hanging, Beheading, Gibbeting, Drawing and quartering, Disembowelment, Dismemberment, Crucifixion, Impalement, Shooting, etc. being the norm in days past when daily crime rates for those as mentioned in this work were rare if not non-existent.
Reminded me of an inmate from Folsom Prison known as "The Flea." He, at the time, was the longest consecutive period prisoner in the state, having never been out (others had more time, but came back and forth through those revolving doors of justice. He was being moved to Vacaville's Medical Facility portion of the CMF Prison due to imminent death from cancer. He wished to stay and die at Folsom where he had spent nearly all of his life. While I was working at CMF in those days, inmates made quite a fuss over the wishes and desires of "The Flea." They asked me my opinion about Flea not being able to die where he wanted to... I replied, "Well, the people he killed didn't get to die where they wanted to either."
-And of course, there's today's world behind the razor wire... Medium-Security California State Prison, Solano in Vacaville 2015: "Nearly 15 hours after a riot at a Northern California prison, guards found a missing inmate sawed nearly in two, with his abdominal organs and most chest organs removed, his body folded and stuffed into a garbage can in a shower stall a few doors from his cell."
Much of the story focuses on the suffering of the 'offenders' with virtually nothing concerning their victims and/or the life-long detrimental effects those types of crimes injected into their lives. It is considered cruel for anything but a quick, painless, carefree death for a capital offender. Though 'unusual' would be a hard swallow in the light of history: Hanging, Beheading, Gibbeting, Drawing and quartering, Disembowelment, Dismemberment, Crucifixion, Impalement, Shooting, etc. being the norm in days past when daily crime rates for those as mentioned in this work were rare if not non-existent.
Reminded me of an inmate from Folsom Prison known as "The Flea." He, at the time, was the longest consecutive period prisoner in the state, having never been out (others had more time, but came back and forth through those revolving doors of justice. He was being moved to Vacaville's Medical Facility portion of the CMF Prison due to imminent death from cancer. He wished to stay and die at Folsom where he had spent nearly all of his life. While I was working at CMF in those days, inmates made quite a fuss over the wishes and desires of "The Flea." They asked me my opinion about Flea not being able to die where he wanted to... I replied, "Well, the people he killed didn't get to die where they wanted to either."
-And of course, there's today's world behind the razor wire... Medium-Security California State Prison, Solano in Vacaville 2015: "Nearly 15 hours after a riot at a Northern California prison, guards found a missing inmate sawed nearly in two, with his abdominal organs and most chest organs removed, his body folded and stuffed into a garbage can in a shower stall a few doors from his cell."
October 19, 2018
I found the battle between Westinghouse and Edison regarding what type of current would be used for the electric chair to be very interesting. Although I knew the history of the electric chair had to be a little political, I never suspected that there was a battle between two major entrepreneurs.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews