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in reply to a message by queenv
"As for electricity as an appropriate method to execute humans, well not only Edison but the majority of US States thought it was more humane than hanging and they thought that for a long time, long after Edison was gone. Prolly really wasn't, but the intent was good."
Actually, this isn't actually true. The people who witnessed the first electrocution felt it was distressing and barbaric. Many people, doctors and scientists included, felt like it was so barbaric it would never take off as an accepted method of execution. Some quotes from the aftermath:
"They would have done better with an axe," Westinghouse commented.
"Turned on the current," excitedly cried Dr. Spitzka. "This man is not dead."
"That man wasn't dead," cried Spitzka excitedly.
"Keep it on now until he's killed," said one of the doctors.
"For me," said he, "first the guillotine, second the gallows, and last of all electrical execution. Never before," said the Dr., "have I felt just as I do now. What I have seen as impressed me deeply, not exactly what you would call horror, but rather with wonder in doubt. I have seen hangings far more brutal and this execution, but I have never seen anything so awe inspiring. What I have seen satisfies me that the scale of capital punishment is first the guillotine, second the gallows, and far in the rear the electrical execution.I do not regard the execution a failure, but it did not appear to be what it had promised to be. The object of the system was to written capital punishment of its features of barbarity and cruelty."
"When the signal was given and the current was turned on the other no sound, but his shoulders slowly drew up, as they sometimes do in the case of a man who is hanging. The index finger of his right hand was closed so tightly on the upper joint that the male cut the capillary skin and it began to bleed. The eyes were half closed, and so nearly hidden that I could see no expression in them. He breathes laboriously like this" (and the Doctor illustrated), "and the parts of his face that showed were suffused with blood that came through the capillary. He was undoubtedly unconscious, but not dead. After the current had been on for seventeen seconds it was taken off and the body fell back went. The dynamo was stopped and it was thought that everything was over, but suddenly he began to breathe began again and foam came out of his mouth. The suffusion of the capillary still continued. The current was turned on again. I do not know for how long. I did not time it."
"The man was not then killed instantly, doctor?" "No, he was not."
"the scene can be described as a disgrace TO humanity. It will send a thrill of indignation throughout the civilized world. We cannot believe that Americans will allow the electrical execution act to stand."
"The law for electrical executions will not stand after this," exclaimed corner Ferdinand Levy. He added that he thought the courts would now hold that electrical death was a "cruel and unusual punishment."
Actually, this isn't actually true. The people who witnessed the first electrocution felt it was distressing and barbaric. Many people, doctors and scientists included, felt like it was so barbaric it would never take off as an accepted method of execution. Some quotes from the aftermath:
"They would have done better with an axe," Westinghouse commented.
"Turned on the current," excitedly cried Dr. Spitzka. "This man is not dead."
"That man wasn't dead," cried Spitzka excitedly.
"Keep it on now until he's killed," said one of the doctors.
"For me," said he, "first the guillotine, second the gallows, and last of all electrical execution. Never before," said the Dr., "have I felt just as I do now. What I have seen as impressed me deeply, not exactly what you would call horror, but rather with wonder in doubt. I have seen hangings far more brutal and this execution, but I have never seen anything so awe inspiring. What I have seen satisfies me that the scale of capital punishment is first the guillotine, second the gallows, and far in the rear the electrical execution.I do not regard the execution a failure, but it did not appear to be what it had promised to be. The object of the system was to written capital punishment of its features of barbarity and cruelty."
"When the signal was given and the current was turned on the other no sound, but his shoulders slowly drew up, as they sometimes do in the case of a man who is hanging. The index finger of his right hand was closed so tightly on the upper joint that the male cut the capillary skin and it began to bleed. The eyes were half closed, and so nearly hidden that I could see no expression in them. He breathes laboriously like this" (and the Doctor illustrated), "and the parts of his face that showed were suffused with blood that came through the capillary. He was undoubtedly unconscious, but not dead. After the current had been on for seventeen seconds it was taken off and the body fell back went. The dynamo was stopped and it was thought that everything was over, but suddenly he began to breathe began again and foam came out of his mouth. The suffusion of the capillary still continued. The current was turned on again. I do not know for how long. I did not time it."
"The man was not then killed instantly, doctor?" "No, he was not."
"the scene can be described as a disgrace TO humanity. It will send a thrill of indignation throughout the civilized world. We cannot believe that Americans will allow the electrical execution act to stand."
"The law for electrical executions will not stand after this," exclaimed corner Ferdinand Levy. He added that he thought the courts would now hold that electrical death was a "cruel and unusual punishment."
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I just want to point out again, although I know you're now way off topic, and getting gratuitously gruesome - there's no reason to believe Edison wished to torture people to death. He wanted to scare people away from a technology that competed with what he was selling, and apparently was rather insensitive by modern standards. Associating his last name with electrocution is totally optional and IMO would be weird.
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Yes, but people will associate him with it if they know anything about Edison. I would find it really odd to name a kid Edison, knowing those things. Just as I would have a problem naming my kid Adolph, Vick, or Lenin. Yah, Adolph made art and the autobahn...and also concentration camps and nazism, Vick was a great football player...but also an animal abuser, and Lenin is praised by many for his revolutionization of his country...despite it leading to the deaths of many.
I just wouldn't use a name that is so heavily tied to one individual who may also be known for many terrible things. Whats wrong with Thomas? At least then it won't be linked to Edison.
I just wouldn't use a name that is so heavily tied to one individual who may also be known for many terrible things. Whats wrong with Thomas? At least then it won't be linked to Edison.
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But the law did stand. And it wasn't held to be cruel and unusual. There had to be just as many who thought it was not inhumane.
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There were just as many.
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