This is my first post on SD, although I have been reading the articles and Forums for some time now. My question is kind of odd, but it is something that I have always wondered. Back in the days of the Electric Chair, was there ever an inmate that had to be dragged to the chair kicking and screaming like we see in some movies? If some people said that the chair was cruel and unusual and caused undue suffering, why are there no reports of the condemned screaming when the switch was thrown? I suppose this question isn’t limited to the electric chair, but towards the execution methods in general. It has always perplexed me.
I don’t know if anyone has ever been dragged kicking and screaming to the chair.
As for the chair itself is concerned though, the current theory is that the condemned loses consciousness before they are even aware of what is happening to them. However, even though the conscious part of their brain may be fried within milliseconds of throwing the switch, their heart will continue to beat and their lungs will continue to breath for quite some time afterwards. The rest of the body is killed by literally cooking it to death. The person being executed is unaware of what is happening, so whether it is truly cruel and unusual is debatable, but the fact that the body is cooked is undeniably gruesome. The electric chair wasn’t taken out of use because the victims suffered. It was taken out of use because people thought it was too gruesome to use. The fact that there were a few accidents where the wrong type of sponges were used or they weren’t moist enough and caught fire didn’t help people’s opinion much either.
It’s the same with hanging. If you let the victim drop too far, their head pops off. This probably isn’t any more unpleasant to the victim than the act of being hanged itself is, but people still think it’s cruel and unusual.
I was gearing up for some snide remark to the tune of “because their mouths are taped shut” but in searching to see if this was true or not (turns out it’s not), I found an interesting article that might answer some of your questions.
When Charles Rodham Campbell was put to death in Washington state by hanging, he had to be literally drug to the gallows. He had to be sedated and tied to a back board to be hung.
IIRC, one of the things that the executioner would do after the signal was given was to watch the prisoner and time the closing of the switch to the prisoner’s breathing cycle and try to catch him on an exhalation. The less air in the lungs, the less sound was made by reflex gasping.
I stand to be corrected on this, however - it’s been many years and I don’t recall where I read it originally.
Thanks a lot for the information guys. Perhaps when the guest registration expires I’ll invest in a real subscription. I’m a college student and there’s no telling when I could use a hand in finding some research. =)
Thanks again!