William Kemmler was not infamous for his nefarious deeds. Rather, he remains infamous for one thing, one shocking thing only – he was the first man to be executed in the electric chair.
William Francis Kemmler was born on May 9th, 1860 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were German immigrants, and raging alcoholics. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was very young, and his father had a hard time raising the children. As a result, Kemmler dropped out of school at the age of 10, never learning to read or write, and began working in his father’s butcher shop to help out with the family finances.
Kemmler also took on many odd jobs over the years in order to keep the family afloat. At some point, his father died of gangrene after being injured in a drunken brawl. Kemmler saw this as his chance to set out on his own.
At the age of 17, he began working in a brick yard. He saved every single thing he earned in order to go into business for himself. Two years later, at 19, he bought a horse and a cart, becoming a peddler. He’d go around the country farms, buy vegetables to fill up his cart, and then sell his wares for profit in the city.
He was earning more money than he’d ever seen. But he wasn’t as frugal as he once was. No, once he’d figured that he’d made it, he began spending most of his earnings on alcohol. And the alcohol changed him. The peddler who was once good at his job would turn into a completely different person when he was drunk.
During one particular binge drinking episode, Kemmler drank enough to become black out drunk. While intoxicated, he apparently married one of his neighbours. However, once sober, Kemmler didn’t seem all too keen on his new marital status. He tried desperately to disentangle himself from her, but she was unwilling to let him go. Which complicated matters for Kemmler.
William Kemmler already had a girlfriend – Matilda “Tillie” Zeigler. She was also unhappily married, and the two carried on their relationship in plain sight. Tillie knew her husband was also unfaithful, and she was deeply unhappy.
In 1888, Kemmler and Tillie took Tillie’s young daughter and fled both their marriages. Kemmler changed his name, to ensure his wife couldn’t track him down, and the trio settled down in Buffalo, New York. Having left their unhappy lives behind, they seemed extremely happy.
They rented a small room from a lovely landlady, Mary Reid, and for a while all was well. But living in close quarters soon began to take its toll on the relationship.
They would fight and argue all the time, especially when Kemmler drank. Tillie was also known to have a temper, which didn’t help matters. Neighbours were reported to have often heard them arguing and yelling, scaring Tillie’s small daughter.
On March 29th, 1889, the pair were engaged in one such screaming match while they were in the middle of making breakfast. Kemmler was recovering from a hangover after a night of heavy binge drinking, and Tillie was having none of it.
Suddenly, Kemmler became enraged. Calmly, he retrieved a hatchet in the midst of the argument, and proceeded to attack Tillie with it.
Once he was quite finished, Kemmler found Mary Reid, his landlady, in her kitchen and informed her of what he’d just done. At first, she didn’t believe him. But when he brought Tillie’s four-year-old daughter to her, she was forced to face facts. In a small voice, the daughter told Mary: “Papa has killed my Mama.”
Mary took the child, and immediately summoned police. When they arrived, they found Tillie was still breathing, and called for an ambulance in the hopes that she could be saved.
Meanwhile, Kemmler calmly walked to the local tavern and ordered a drink. When police caught up to him, he was arrested without struggle. He was still quite drunk, and initially didn’t want to say a word. He hadn’t been told that Tillie was still alive.
When she was brought to the hospital, Tillie was thoroughly examined. It was believed that she’d been hit in the head at the least 26 times, not counting all of the other injuries to her body.
For a time, it looked like she might make it. But she passed away in hospital a couple of days later.
By this time, Kemmler had sobered up and confessed to the attack. “I wanted to kill her,” he said, “and I’m ready to hang for it.”
Tillie’s daughter was placed in the care of Mary Reid.
On May 7th, 1989, Kemmler’s trial began. At this point, he shared more details as to why the couple argued that day in March.
Kemmler firmly believed that Tillie intended to leave him. She’d left a partner before, she was capable of doing it again. He believed her plan involved stealing money from him, and running off with his business partner and friend. While in his inebriated, hungover state, he became enraged, and he attacked her.
The prosecution was quick to point out that Kemmler had already confessed to the murder on multiple occasions. They demanded that the jury find him guilty of the highest charge – first-degree murder – and subsequently sentence him to the highest punishment – death.
The defence stated that due to Kemmler’s drunken state at the time of the murder, he should be convicted of manslaughter, not first-degree murder. They weren’t negating that he’d committed the act, they were just hoping for a lesser charge. They argued that first-degree murder was unconstitutional. Kemmler was a severe alcoholic. In his inebriated state of mind, he didn’t have the mental capacity to pre-plan the murder – a requisite for the charge of first-degree murder.
Ultimately, the jury convicted William Kemmler of first-degree murder.
However, the state of capital punishment in New York had changed by this point. A death sentence was no longer to be meted out by hanging.
Almost a year before the murder took place, New York passed a new law stating that the punishment of death should be done by electrocution. This law was to take effect on January 1st, 1889.
There was a lot of build up to this law that is known as the “war of currents” that I will not be going into for the purposes of his post. But, this “war” did inspire Buffalo, New York dentist Alfred Southwick to invent what we now know to be the electric chair in 1881. Through testing (I will not go into details – it turns my stomach just thinking about it), the device was “perfected”. And with New York’s new law in the books, they had the perfect opportunity to try it out.
On May 13th, 1989, William Kemmler was sentenced to death. He was to be the first man to be executed by electric current at New York’s Auburn Prison.
Kemmler’s attorneys tried their best to appeal the sentence, claiming cruel and unusual punishment. They were shut down at every turn.
On August 6th, 1890, Kemmler was woken up at 5 AM. He dressed, had breakfast, said a prayer, and had the top of his head shaved. He was brought to the execution room at 6:38 AM. He was greeted by Warden Charles Durston and 17 witnesses.
Kemmler took one look at the chair and stated: “Gentelmen, I wish you all good luck. I believe I am going to a good place, and I am ready to go.”
Then, electrical leads were attached to him, and he sat down in the chair where he was strapped down. His face was covered, and a metal restraint placed on his bare head. Once settled, Warden Durston said “Goodbye, William”, and signaled for the switch to be thrown.
1000 volts of electricity were charged through Kemmler for 17 seconds before the power from the generator was turned off. A few of the witnesses noticed something a little bit odd, though. Kemmler was still breathing. His heart was still beating. “Great God, he’s alive!” shouted an anonymous witness.
The switch was thrown a second time, this time for two minutes, and charging 2000 volts. This time, it was less fascinating and more horrific. As reported by The New York Times: “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 his spine was singeing. The stench was unbearable.”
The papers went on to ignore multiple gag orders, and reported in sensationalist – sometimes untruthful – detail about the first execution by electric current. The general public consensus was that this was a barbaric form of capital punishment. But that didn’t really stop anyone from doing it again.
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Sources:
“Great God, he is alive!” The first man executed by electric chair died slower than Thomas Edison expected – Michael S. Rosenwald – Washington Post
Stuff You Missed in History podcast – The Electrocution of William Kemmler
William Kemmler Wikipedia page