William Kemmler of Buffalo, New York, was the first person in the world to be executed using an electric chair. But he didn’t go quietly. Kemmler murdered Tillie Ziegler, his common-law wife, with a hatchet on March 29, 1889, and was sentenced to death by electrocution at New York's Auburn Prison. His lawyers appealed, arguing that electrocution was cruel and unusual punishment. George Westinghouse, one of the backers of alternating current as the standard for the distribution of main power, supported his appeal. The appeal failed, partly due to the support of Thomas Edison for the state's position (Edison was a backer of direct current power supplies, and it is speculated he wanted to use the publicity surrounding the electric chair to convince people that AC was dangerous). Electrocution was highly controversial, but despite lobbies to get the penalty changed to a more humane method his execution took place. Kemmler took his penalty very stoically. But the irony of his final words "Take it easy and do it properly, I’m in no hurry" hit hard. Understandably the executioners were in dire need of practice, this being their first time. Despite successfully electrocuting a horse at a trial run, they misjudged the current necessary to kill a man. According to R.C. Barnes of the New York Times, who had tuned the electric chair being used, went on record with the statement "No electrician who understands the subject and knows what the apparatus is can doubt that it will kill Kemmler". But he had based his supposition on the fact that they’d use around 15,000 volts. In actual fact, a mere 1,000 volts coursed through Kemmler’s body for 17 seconds, on the presumption that that would kill him. Despite the smell of frying flesh, Kemmler was still breathing at the end of his electrifying session. In the second attempt, Kemmler was shocked with 2,000 volts. Blood vessels under the skin ruptured and bled and some witnesses erroneously claimed his body caught fire. However, Kemmler's body did not catch fire. The New York Times reported instead that "an awful odor began to permeate the death chamber, and then, as though to cap the climax of this fearful sight, it was seen that the hair under and around the electrode on the head and the flesh under and around the electrode at the base of the spine was singeing. The stench was unbearable." Witnesses reported the smell of burning flesh and several nauseated spectators unsuccessfully tried to leave the room. The entire execution took approximately eight minutes. A reporter who witnessed it also said it was "an awful spectacle, far worse than hanging." Westinghouse later commented, "They would have done better using an axe."
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