On August 6 in 1890, the State of New York executed William Kemmler in the nation’s first use of the electric chair. As explained in Richard Moran’s Executioner’s Current: Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the Invention of the Electric Chair
Edison vs. Westinghouse
George Westinghouse, who was working to make alternating current the U.S. standard for distributing electricity into homes, supported Kemmler in his appeals. Meanwhile, Thomas Edison, who was working to make direct current the standard, was an advocate for the electric chair.
Edison hoped that once people saw the use of the electric chair, they would realize that Westinghouse’s AC current was dangerous and adopt his DC current. As part of his campaign, Edison even showed how electricity could kill an elephant. Edison’s promotion helped lead to the state using AC current for the execution.
But in the long term, Edison did not win the DC-AC debate. Today we use AC current in our homes.
Kemmler’s Execution
Kemmler had been sentenced to death for killing his common law wife with a hatchet. After officials strapped him into the chair, the electricity was applied for several seconds. During that time, Kemmler strained against the leather straps.
When attending doctors thought Kemmler was dead, the warden had the electricity turned off. But Kemmler’s body continued to twitch, causing observers to faint.
After doctors confirmed Kemmler was still breathing, the executioner sent 2,000 volts through Kemmler’s body. Kemmler’s mouth foamed and blood vessels ruptured. Witnesses smelled burning flesh as Kemmler’s body caught fire.
After the electricity ceased, Kemmler’s body went limp. Doctors confirmed that this time Kemmler was dead. Following the execution, about twenty newspapers in New York called for a repeal of the law that allowed execution by electrocution.
Debates about the method of execution will continue as long as the U.S. is in the minority of countries in the world that maintain the death penalty. Recently, news stories have focused on problems with the chemicals used in lethal injection.
Eric Church’s “Lightening”
A slang term for being killed in the electric chair is “riding the lightning.” Country singer Eric Church incorporated the reference in his song, “Lightning,” about a death row inmate.
There is something about the imminence of death that makes a death row inmate’s perspective compelling for a country song. Reportedly, this death penalty song earned Church his recording contract.
Church’s song does not take a position for or against the death penalty. But it focuses on the often overlooked families of both the condemned and the victim.
I like the version of the song used in the video more than the version from his debut album, Sinners Like Me (2006). The video version changes the sound of the inmate’s voice at the end in a way that the album version does not, using an old microphone sound to convey a timeless voice from beyond the grave. It’s a good and haunting song and video.
Yeah, tonight I ride the lightning
To my final restin’ place.
One aspect of the video, however, is somewhat inaccurate. The condemned in the video is a white man executed in Texas where the victim appears to be African-American. Although Texas leads the country in executions, that racial combination is exceedingly rare.
In 2011, Texas executed Lee Taylor for murdering an African-American inmate while serving a life sentence. That was only the second time out of almost 500 executions during the modern death penalty era (since 1976) that Texas executed a white person for killing a black person. The rarity is not limited to Texas, as a number of studies from various states show that one is more likely to get the death penalty for killing a white person than for killing a person of any other race.
(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)
