Edison and the Electric Chair by Mark Essig, Sutton, 拢20, ISBN 0750936436 Reviewed by Roy Herbert
TO the strange and macabre story of the electric chair, Mark Essig adds the battle of the currents, an explanation of how electricity is generated and the problems of distribution.
The American inventor and pioneer of electricity, Thomas Edison, favoured direct current, and found a ruthless rival in George Westinghouse who used alternating current with more success. Alternating current was considered to be more dangerous to life, so reformers in search of a more humane way of execution concluded it might mean a merciful and instantaneous death for condemned criminals. Edison, possibly thinking it could affect Westinghouse鈥檚 alternating current schemes, agreed. Experiments on killing dogs, calves and horses appeared to confirm the idea.
Advertisement
A design for an electric chair was approved and the first execution by electricity arranged. It proved a horrific event, involving prolonged agony for the victim. This episode makes grim reading in Edison and the Electric Chair, but this technological history is fascinating and the contemporary illustrations are an extra attraction.