Alfred Porter Southwick (1826–1898) was a steam-boat engineer, dentist and inventor from

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. He is credited with inventing the

electric chair An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...

as a method of legal execution. He was also a professor at the

University of Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

school of dental medicine, now known as the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...

at Buffalo.

Electric chair

In 1881, Alfred Southwick conceived the idea of electrical execution when he heard the story of an intoxicated man who touched a live

electric generator In electricity generation, a generator is a device that converts motive power (mechanical energy) or fuel-based power (chemical energy) into electric power for use in an external circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include steam turbines, gas ...

. Given that the man died so quickly, Southwick, a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

, concluded that electricity could be used as an alternative to hanging, making executions more humane. His first application for this phenomenon was to help invent a way to

euthanize Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different eutha ...

stray dogs at the Buffalo SPCA, but within a year he was publishing his ideas on using this method for

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

in scientific journals. As Southwick was a dentist who was accustomed to performing procedures on subjects in chairs, his device for electrical execution appeared in the form of an "electric chair". After a series of botched

hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...

s in the United States, there was mounting criticism of this form of capital punishment and the death penalty in general. In 1886 newly elected New York State governor

David B. Hill David Bennett Hill (August 29, 1843October 20, 1910) was an American politician from New York who was the 29th Governor of New York from 1885 to 1891 and represented New York in the United States Senate from 1892 to 1897. In 1892, he made an u ...

set up a three-member death penalty commission to find a more humane form of execution. The committee included Southwick, human rights advocate and reformer

Elbridge Thomas Gerry Elbridge Thomas Gerry (December 25, 1837 – February 18, 1927), usually called "Commodore" Gerry due to the office he held with the New York Yacht Club from 1886 to 1892, was an American lawyer and reformer who was the grandson of U.S. Vice P ...

, and New York lawyer and politician Matthew Hale. They explored many forms of execution and in 1888 recommended electrocution using Southwick's electric-chair idea with metal conductors attached to the condemned person's head and feet. With their advice, the first law allowing the use of electrocution went into effect in New York State on January 1, 1889. Development of Southwick's idea into a working device was turned over to the New York Medico-Legal Society. On August 6, 1890,

William Kemmler William Francis Kemmler (May 9, 1860 – August 6, 1890) was an American peddler, alcoholic, and murderer, who, in 1890, became the first person in the world to be executed by electric chair. He was convicted of murdering Matilda "Tillie" Ziegle ...

was executed by electrocution. Southwick was present and is reported to have said, "There is the culmination of ten years work and study! We live in a higher civilization from this day." Southwick died in 1898, aged 72–73, and was interred at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York.

In popular culture

The Netflix series ''

F Is for Family ''F Is for Family'' is an American adult animated comedy drama streaming television series created by Bill Burr and Michael Price for Netflix. It is produced by Vince Vaughn's Wild West Television, King of France Productions, Loner Productions, ...

'' features a school named the Alfred P. Southwick elementary school. In season 4 the students perform in a theater play about the origins of the electric chair and the life of Alfred P. Southwick.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Southwick, Alfred P. 1826 births American dentists 19th-century American inventors Capital punishment in the United States People from Buffalo, New York 1898 deaths Burials at Forest Lawn Cemetery (Buffalo) University at Buffalo faculty 19th-century dentists American Quakers

Electric chair

In popular culture

See also

References

External links