Electrical Execution.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 26, 1 February 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

Electrical Execution.

Having decided to adopt the principle of > ■ execution by electricity, the New Yorkera .••',;, need not trouble themselves as to the work* . r ing of the scheme. Exhaustive experiments j and costly machinery are alike unnecessary, > Every day brings evidence from the Empire > City that it is possible, despite Mr \ Preece and his pigs, to inflict death , by electricity. Hardly had we recovered, from the 'flaming horse,' so graphically; j described by the ' Daily News 'some weeks ago, than we aro treated toan equally vivid m description by the 'Standard ' of an incan- • descent tram-car. The story shows, by the m by, the curious listlessneps of our go*abeac| meg cousins in the matter of their own safety. , V They do insist upon the. insulatjoa; > . of these death-bearing wires,., bub tpj s do not insist upon their being placed; j out of , harm's, way. The wires inu6Jßh, be hung veyy iow, or the street cars mush, • be built very high, when, as in the case rer : ferred to, the ear could catch the wire,; , strip off ita insulation, and produce the, charming effects afterwards described, , Happily, no one, for a wonder, was actually killed, and ib is possible to enjoy the full ,; humour of the situation. The ,firab action of the ' fluid' (an old-fashioned, but convenient term) was to throw [ 1 fche driver from his seat, just as. if'ib had been a drunken passenger. Continuing its hilarious course it whipped the horses into a gallop, and caused them $K> ; I run away, and then deyoted its energies to the beautiful experiment which we have . ■ already alluded to. and caused the metal work of the car to flash and flame from the. ; 1 wheels to the roof. After-this, the New., Yorkers' course is clear. When they capturei, jjjjj a distinguished criminal they will; sentence. - him to death in something like this form:—« • ' You shall be taken from this place an<t/i appointed a driver in the service of the -r—;,} Street Car Company (Limited;, and shaU.)?;, there continue until the Electric light:.! Company shall in then' mercy see. fit to re». ■ | move you.' Thus, business and pleasure ;^;; will be happily combined, and the problem , of execution by electricity solved in ft cheap m and satisfactory manner. •.; ■:,-. : >i.i*sf|