The electric chair: a colorless, odorless and tasteless death

William Kemmler is the first inmate to be executed by electric chair, a modern alternative to hanging that was intended to save the condemned person suffering. In 2008 the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution will condemn it as a ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ that inflicts ‘immense pain and agonizing suffering’

Preparing an inmate for execution in the electric chair, circa 1900, at Sing Sing Prison (USA)

On August 6, 1890, the electric chair was used for the first time in the United States. William Kemmler is executed in Auburn prison, in the state of New York.

That modern method for the condemned to suffer less than with the gallows, demonstrated over the years that it did not save suffering. The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled: electrocution "inflicts intense pain and agonizing suffering."


"Burning the body of the prisoner is an inherent part of electrocution." 'It is common for witnesses to see smoke coming from the head or legs of the prisoner. But it is a sign of a civilized society that we punish cruelty without practicing it. '
In February 2008, 128 years after a long history as a method to execute those sentenced to death, the chair began to have its days numbered. The Nebraska Court ruled by six votes to one that "evidence existed" that electrocuting inmates inflicted "immense pain and agonizing suffering." This was a ‘cruel and unusual punishment’, for which it was prohibited by the eighth amendment of the United States Constitution.

 The history of this punitive method dates back to August 6, 1890. That day William Kemmler, accused of murdering his lover with an ax, became the first death row inmate to be executed by electric chair. A murder machine invented by a Thomas A. Edison employee, Harold P. Brown, hired to develop an electrocution system for executing inmates was the architect.
The ‘signing’ of Brown, an electrical engineer, was due to the search in 1886 for an alternative system, more humane than the one that had been used until then, the gallows.
Brown developed a system based on alternating current, which in his opinion was more suitable for performances than direct current.
The "practical invention" was faithfully portrayed by the press of the time, which referred to Kemler's execution in the following terms: "It was a horrible sight, much worse than the hanging." And the thing is that the contraption was far from being perfect, since between the first and second shocks, during the minute it took to recharge the generator you could hear the prisoner moan, burned and still alive.
Her ill-fated debut did not prevent Martha Place from suffering the same fate in Sing Sing Prison just nine years later, becoming the first of twenty-six women to be executed by electric chair.

Martha Place was the first of 26 women to be executed by electric chair in the United States. She died on March 20, 1899, for having murdered her stepdaughter, Ida Place

 From then on, due to its efficiency, the chair became the preferred method until the middle of the 19th century. In 1949, its use fell out of favor, and no state decided to adopt it. The cause was the execution of inmate Willie Francis, which shocked public opinion. The chair had been improperly installed, presumably by a drunken assistant, and Francis's cries: "Stop! Let me breathe!" Were far from adjusting to the dignified death that the method promised.

On May 3, 1946, 16-year-old Willie Francis was executed at the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

The trajectory of the ‘death chair’ since then has been tortuous:
- In 1944, George Junius Stinney, an African American teenager from South Carolina, is executed, accused of having murdered two white girls. The alleged murderer was only 14 years old, making him the youngest human being to be executed in the history of the United States.
- In 1966, the United States prohibited executions. Ten years later, the death penalty is reintroduced but with lethal injection.
- In 1999, 34 of the 38 states where the death penalty existed legislated that it could only be executed by injection.
- In 2002, Nebraska was the only state that maintained the electric chair, although in other states the convicted person could select it 'à la carte' as a method to access the afterlife.
- In 2008, Brandon Hendrick in Virginia made history by becoming the last inmate to be executed in the chair.
Final balance:
4,461 human beings have been executed in the electric chair
. New York, with 685 is the first state, and South Dakota, with one, the last.