The development of the electric chair

This past week, I saw newspaper articles discussing the banning of the electric chair in Nebraska.

That article reminded me of this book that I read a while ago: Edison & the Electric Chair by Mark Essig (364.66 EDI). In 1879, the lightbulb launched the electrification of cities. In the 1880s, various large cities were getting electricity. However, because this was new technology, there was no standardization for wiring, which was a haphazard and extremely dangerous. In 1889, Manhattan was morbidly curious about a lineman who was electricuted and was hanging in the air. (Actually, human nature has not evolved that much - even now many people are still fascinated by gruesome images.)

Edison was one of many who saw the possibility of using electricity for killing convicted criminals. He lobbied for it, calling the electric chair more humane than the guillotine or lethal injection.

The book is rather gruesome when the author talks about Edison's experiments on animals to determine how much electricity it would take to kill a man instead of just disabling him.

Before reading this book, I had never thought of Edison in this way - experimenting with ways to kill people.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008