[DL] A History of Executions

[J Tolle <jwtolle@altavista.com>]

Heard on NPR this morning - a history of executions.

Of particular interest.  The Electric chair originated thusly:

In the early 1880's Thomas Alva Edison in compition with Westinghouse wanted to prove how dangerous the Westinghose generators were.  He began by hooking small animals and the like up to the generator, killing them in the process.

Soon some "visionary" thought - wow, lets try it on condemned criminals.  In fact, for many years, a body was not electricuted - they were Westinghoused.  Basically both Edison and Westinghouse threw tons of money at promoting thier own electric chairs as safe.  Still, many witnesses were often treated to a horrific show as ill delivered "doses" of electricity caused popping eyeballs, burning fleash, and a host of other nasty effects.

Remember, of cource, electricity was a thing to be feared.  Many people were terrified of the strange new source of power.

This was all in the 1800's - culminating in the first human execution in 1890.  But with mad science pushing the envelope, many things are possible.

I had an idea for an adventure hook where an MS offers to execute criminals in his portable Electric Chair.  He can demonstrate on a few small animals at first.


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