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 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, ...

. He was convicted of murdering Matilda "Tillie" Ziegler, his

common-law wife Common-law marriage, also known as non-ceremonial marriage, marriage, informal marriage, or marriage by habit and repute, is a legal framework where a couple may be considered married without having formally registered their relation as a civil ...

, a year earlier. Although electrocution had previously been successfully used to kill a horse, Kemmler's execution did not go smoothly.

Early life

William Kemmler was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1860. Both of his parents were immigrants from Germany, and both were alcoholics. After dropping out of school at age 10, unable to read or write, Kemmler worked in his father's butcher shop. Kemmler's father died from an infection he received after a drunken brawl, and his mother from complications of alcoholism. In the late 1870s Kemmler was reportedly slender, with dark brown hair. He spoke both English and German. After his parents' deaths, he went into the peddling business, and earned enough money to buy a horse and cart. At this point, however, he was also becoming a heavy drinker. In one episode involving him and his friends, after a series of drunken binges, he said he could jump his horse and cart over an eight-foot fence, with the cart attached to the horse. The attempt was a failure, and his cart and goods were destroyed in the incident. He was known to friends as "Philadelphia Billy", and his drinking binges were very well known around the saloons in his Buffalo neighborhood.

Murder and execution

Murder, trial, and appeals

The ''New York Times'' described the murder:

William Kemmler was a vegetable peddler in the slums of Buffalo, New York. An alcoholic, on March 29, 1889, he was recovering from a drinking binge the night before when he became enraged with his girlfriend lsewhere referred to as his common-law wifeTillie Ziegler. He accused her of stealing from him and preparing to run away with a friend of his. When the argument reached a peak, Kemmler calmly went to the barn, grabbed a hatchet, and returned to the house. He struck Tillie repeatedly, killing her. He then went to a neighbor's house and announced he had just murdered his girlfriend.

The same day, Kemmler was accused of the murder of Matilda "Tillie" Ziegler, his

, who had been killed with a hatchet.

Kemmler's resulting murder trial proceeded quickly. He was convicted of
first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially t ...
on May 10. Three days later he was sentenced to death, destined to be the first person executed in an electric chair under New York's new execution law replacing hanging with electrocution. A chair was ready at the Auburn state prison. However, the leading developers of electrical power, including George Westinghouse, did not want to see their new product used in this manner. A lawyer filed an appeal claiming the electric chair violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

On January 1, 1888, New York had instituted death by electrocution, the first such law ever. After Kemmler's conviction, it was determined that his sentence was to be carried out at New York's Auburn Prison via the new

, a device invented in 1881 by

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 Southe ...

dentist

Alfred Southwick Alfred Porter Southwick (1826–1898) was a steam-boat engineer, dentist and inventor from Buffalo, New York. He is credited with inventing the electric chair as a method of legal execution. He was also a professor at the University of Buffalo schoo ...

. After nine years of development and legislation, the chair was considered ready for use. Kemmler's lawyers appealed, arguing that electrocution was a

cruel and unusual punishment Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase in common law describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to the sanction. The precise definition varies by jurisdi ...

. The plan to carry out Kemmler's execution via electric chair drew the situation into the AC/DC "

war of the currents The war of the currents was a series of events surrounding the introduction of competing electric power transmission systems in the late 1880s and early 1890s. It grew out of two lighting systems developed in the late 1870s and early 1880s; arc ...

" between George Westinghouse, the largest supplier of

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in which ...

equipment, and Thomas Edison, whose company ran its equipment on direct current. The alternating current that powered the electric chair (a current standard adopted by a committee after a demonstration performed at Edison's laboratory by anti-AC activist Harold P. Brown showing AC's lethality) was supplied by a Westinghouse generator surreptitiously acquired by Brown. This led to Westinghouse trying to stop what seemed to be Brown and Edison's attempt to try to portray the AC used in Westinghouse electrical system as the deadly "executioners' current", supporting Kemmler's appeal by hiring lawyer W. Bourke Cockran to represent him. The appeal failed on October 9, 1889, and the U.S. Supreme Court turned down the case, titled ''In re Kemmler'', on the grounds that there was no cruel and unusual punishment in death by electrocution.

Execution

On the morning of his execution, August 6, 1890, Kemmler was awakened at 5:00 a.m. He dressed quickly and put on a suit, necktie, and white shirt. After breakfast and some prayer, the top of his head was shaved. At 6:38 a.m., Kemmler entered the execution room and

warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically identic ...

Charles Durston presented Kemmler to the 17 witnesses in attendance. Kemmler looked at the chair and said: "Gentlemen, I wish you all good luck. I believe I am going to a good place, and I am ready to go." Witnesses remarked that Kemmler was composed at his execution; he did not scream, cry, or resist in any way. He sat down on the chair, but was ordered to get up by the warden so a hole could be cut in his suit through which a second electrical lead could be attached. This was done and Kemmler sat down again. He was strapped to the chair, his face was covered and the metal restraint put on his bare head. He said, "Take it easy and do it properly, I'm in no hurry." Durston replied, "Goodbye, William" and ordered the switch thrown. The generator was charged with 1,000 volts, which was thought to be adequate to induce quick unconsciousness and

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possi ...

. The chair had already been tested; a horse had been electrocuted the day before. Current passed through Kemmler for 17 seconds. The power was turned off and Kemmler was declared dead by

Edward Charles Spitzka Edward Charles Spitzka (November 10, 1852 – January 13, 1914) was an eminent late-19th century alienist, neurologist, and anatomist. Dr. Spitzka was the author of the landmark psychiatric manual ''"Treatise on Insanity, Its Classification, Diagn ...

. Witnesses noticed Kemmler was still breathing. The attending physicians, Spitzka and

Carlos Frederick MacDonald Carlos Frederick MacDonald, M.D. (August 29, 1845 – May 29, 1926) was a psychiatrist, and the chairman of the New York State Commission in Lunacy from 1880 to 1896. He was involved in the design of the first electric chair and examined Leon ...

, came forward to examine Kemmler. After confirming he was still alive, Spitzka reportedly called out, "Have the current turned on again, quick—no delay." In the second attempt, Kemmler was shocked with 2,000 volts. Blood vessels under his skin ruptured and bled, and some witnesses claimed his body caught fire. '' The New York Times'' reported instead that "an awful odor began to permeate the death chamber, and then, as though to cap the climax of this fearful sight, it was seen that the hair under and around the electrode on the head and the flesh under and around the electrode at the base of the spine was singeing. The stench was unbearable." Upon autopsy, doctors had found the blood vessels under the cap of his skull had carbonized and the top of the brain had hardened''.'' Witnesses reported the smell of burning flesh and several nauseated spectators tried to leave the room. The execution took approximately eight minutes. The competitive newspaper reporters covering the Kemmler execution jumped on the abnormalities as each newspaper source tried to outdo each other with sensational headlines and reports. The New York Times ran the headline: "Far Worse Than Hanging". Westinghouse later commented "They would have done better using an axe". Kemmler is buried in the precincts of the prison where his execution took place.

Media

William Kemmler was shown as a wax figure seated in the electric chair in the 1953 movie '' House of Wax'' starring Vincent Price. Price's character does say they did not match Kemmler's face, but instead resembled co-star

Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and war ...

. In 2017's

The Current War ''The Current War'' is a 2017 American historical drama film inspired by the 19th-century competition between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse over which electric power delivery system would be used in the United States (often referred to ...

Conor MacNeill Conor MacNeill (born 4 July 1988) is a film, television, and stage actor from Northern Ireland. Biography MacNeill was born in West Belfast and has appeared in such films as '' Fifty Dead Men Walking'' and ''Peacefire'' directed by Macdara Vall ...

briefly portrayed Kemmler.

References

General references

* ''La première exécution d'un condamné à mort par l'éléctricité'' in ''La Nature'', № 901, 6 Septembre 1890, pp. 209–211 * John L. Caroll, ''Death Row. Hope for the future, Challenging Capital Punishment, London'', 1988, pp. 269–288 * Jean-Claude Beaune, ''Les spectres mécaniques. essai sur les relations entre la mort et les techniques'', Seyssel, Champ Vallon, 1988 * Marc Vanden Berghe, ''De l'utopie de la "mort propre" à la chaise électrique : l'affaire Kemmler'' in ''La Revue Générale'', Brussels, août/septembre 1996, pp. 31–42 * Craig Brandon, ''The Electric Chair. An American Unnatural History'', McFarland & Company, 1999 * *

External links

Newspaper coverage
of Kemmler's execution

Prison, Auburn, New York
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kemmler, William 1860 births 1890 deaths 19th-century American criminals 19th-century executions by New York (state) American people of German descent American people convicted of murder People executed for murder Criminals from Philadelphia 19th-century executions by the United States People executed by New York (state) by electric chair Executed people from Pennsylvania People convicted of murder by New York (state) 19th-century executions of American people Prisoners who died in New York (state) detention 1889 murders in the United States Uxoricides Burials in New York (state)