EXECUTED BY ELECTRICITY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11560, 29 June 1899, Page 1

EXECUTED BY ELECTRICITY.

The first execution by electricity of a women in America took place iv Siug Sing Prison on Monday, March 20. The victim wa9 Mrs Place, who was sentenced to death for the murder of her stepdaughter. The penalty was carried out in order, and without any sensational incident, death instantly folbwing the electric shock. Punctually at eleveno'clock the convict was led into the death chamber by one of the officials, She was pale and kept her eyes shut, but she walked firmly and without flinching. Pastor Cole, the prison chaplain, walked by her right side. Two women physicians followed. The latter, when the death chair was reached, stor.d in front of it, screening the prisoner from the gaze of the witnesses while warders adjusted the electrodes. Meanwhile Mrs Place kept her eyes closed, and frequently murmured almost inaudfbly :

" God have mercy upon me," The electrodes haviug been adjusted, the physicians arranged the convict's clothing so as to hide the attachment, and then, at a signal, withdrew to a distance of several" feet. The other eighteen witnesses were seated along the walls ol the chamber. The adjustment was made so expeditioii9ly that only aminute passed before everything was 'in readiness. The current was then instantly thrown, but so silently that half of those present did not know that it had been done. The current was one of 1760 volts. The body did not move, but the hands clenched and tamed purple. One of them held a copy of the Ne"w Testament. The current was maintained for four seconds, and was then reduced to 250 volts. It was kept at this force for 56spc, and then turned off entirely. Tho prison physician then placed his fiuger on the convict's throat, and finding it pulseless declared life extinct. Tho doctors agreed that death had baen instantaneous. Although there was no necessity for a further shock, a second one of a few seconds' duration was administered, such a precautbnary measure being the custom of the prison. The physician 3 then applied the stethoscope to tbe region of the prisoner's heart, hut there was not a flicker of life remaining. The chamber wa3 immediately cleared fjr tho formal autopsy. All the witnesses agreed that the deceased was huimnely killed. Martha Placa was a tall, well-propor-tioned, muscular woman of forty-two years of age. She had been twice married, and had a son fifteen years old by her first husband. The crime for which she was executed arose from her insane jealousy of her stepdaughter Ida, aged seventeon. She blinded the girl by throwing carbolic acid into her eyes, then strangled her, and, to make sure of her death, finished by cutting the girl's throat. * She gave aa her reason that she was joalous of her husband's lovo for his daughter by his first wife. After murdering Ida she secured an axe and waited inthe parlour of their home until her*husbnnd returned from his office in the evening. Directly he entered the front door she sprang forward and slrnck him twice with the axe. One blow fractured his skull, and the other broke his shoulder, but in spite of the severe nature of his injuries he lecovered.