I would just like to comment on this article, and perhaps add a piece of information. I believe someone has actually survived an electrocution, i believe they used a cunning trick. They filled their clothes with pins ( this was in the early days of the chair,before X-Ray detectors and the like.THe pins shorted out the chair and blew the fuses ( i believe aptly named Dead Mans fuses), and so the gentleman was saved for all of around a day or so,until they were replaced, and he was executed, after being searched.
I have difficulty seeing how that would work - it would take a lot of pins to make an electrical connection from one electrode to another! It’s hard to imagine that they wouldn’t be noticed. Now, perhaps a hidden wire might work.
Hi and welcome to the Straight Dope! 
It helps if you include a link to the column so we can all get on the same page, so to speak.
What physically happens to someone electrocuted in the electric chair?
This is a tale told about Albert Fish, a 1930’s pervert who did some totally bizare things. Kind of the Jeffrey Dahmer of his day, except he killed and ate little children.
Anyway, supposedly, one of Fish’s “pastimes” was sticking pins in his testicles and leaving them there. It’s said that when he was executed, the pins shorted out the electric chair and they had to fry him again. But I read somewhere that’s an urban legend.
You can read all about Albert Fish at the Crime Library…
http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/notorious/fish/gracie_1.html
Concerning the pins…
>> Initially, Dr. Wertham had some concerns about whether Fish was lying to him, especially when he told the psychiatrist that he had been sticking needles into his body for years in the area between the rectum and the scrotum: “He told of doing it to other people too, especially children. At first, he said, he had only stuck these needles in and pulled them out again. Then he had stuck others in so far that he was unable to get them out, and they stayed there.” The doctor had him X-rayed and sure enough, there were at least twenty-nine needles in his pelvic region. <<
Concerning the electric chair…
>> Fish was not happy with the verdict, but the prospect of being electrocuted had its appeal to him. A Daily News reporter wrote, “his watery eyes gleamed at the thought of being burned by a heat more intense than the flames with which he often seared his flesh to gratify his lust.”
>> Fish thanked the judge for his sentence of death by electrocution. On January 16, 1936, Albert Fish was executed. <<
I remember my brother mentioned a guy who went through three rounds in the chair and didn’t die. My social studies teacher also mentioned this man. He said that afterward, there was a lawsuit saying that what he went through was cruel and unusual punishment. The judge’s ruling was that the chaur was not meant to be a form of punishment but a way to put someone to death. They put the dude in the chair again and the second time they succeeded in frying him. Don’t know if it’s the same Fish guy you people are talking. Could be.
The Crime Library essay on Fish mentioned nothing about problems with his electocution. I’m fairly certain that if there had been problems, they would have been mentioned.
I’m pretty sure the person you are referring to is the infamous Carl Panzram, who so hated the human race that he declared “war” on it and set about killing as many people as possible before the authorities caught up with him. When electrocuted, Panzram shorted out the chair by means of hundreds of pins and needles placed under his skin. They got him the second time.
According to the Crime Library, Panzram was hung, so it couldn’t have been him.
Link to Crime Library article on Panzram.
Anyhoo…
[pedantics]Hanged. Panzram was hanged. Past tense of hang when referring to execution is hanged. Past tense of hang meaning a picture on a wall is hung. The dictionary is your friend.[/pendatics]
Yes, the dictionary is your friend; make sure you check with your friend regularly.
Quoting from Merrriam-Webster Online ,
usage For both transitive and intransitive senses 1b the past and past participle hung, as well as hanged, is standard. Hanged is most appropriate for official executions <he was to be hanged, cut down whilst still alive … and his bowels torn out – Louis Allen> but hung is also used <gave orders that she should be hung – Peter Quennell>. Hung is more appropriate for less formal hangings <by morning I’ll be hung in effigy – Ronald Reagan>.
So, yes you can use “hung” as the past tense for that form of execution.
Thanks for coming to my aide dmartin.
I could have used the past tense deemed more “appropriate”, if I was a stickler for the rules of an awkward language, but I personally think that hung sounds better. (Unless we’re talking about William Hung.)
Now, is someone going to “correct” me on my use of quotation marks in relation to the comma in the above paragraph? A punctuation mark inside the quotes is, IMO, not always appropriate.
And, for the record, I’ve used my dictionary twice just for this short post.
(Of course, I’m still indebted to C K Dexter Haven for my username change.)
Anyhoo…
I don’t think i’m alone in thinking that the word ‘hanged’ just sounds incorrect. Aside from the Mirriam-Webster’s claim, it just plain rough on the palate.
And it’s rough on the neck, as well.
Different guy, he was called Willie Francis.
And being put to death is somehow not punishment?