The electric chair - a sickening form of capital punishment which causes of a combination of asphyxiation and cardiac arrest by paralysis of the nervous system

 The electric chair - a sickening form of capital punishment which causes of a combination of asphyxiation and cardiac arrest by paralysis of the nervous system.⁣

⁣
But how did we get there? ⁣
⁣
After witnessing a fatal but accidental electrocution in 1881, New York dentist Dr Alfred P Southwick lobbied for electrocution as a humane capital punishment. To that end, he modified a dentist’s chair and began experimenting on animals. The electric chair’s 1890 debut caused outrage as two shocks were needed to kill murderer William Kemmler, but the idea was soon adopted across many states.⁣
⁣
In the course of his work, Southwick sought advice from Thomas Edison, whose electrical company championed Direct Current (DC) [where energy flows constantly in a single direction in the same way as a battery]. ⁣
⁣
Edison secretly arranged for an electric chair to be built powered by Alternating Current (AC) – championed by his competitor George Westinghouse – to scare people into thinking it was more dangerous and discredit AC.⁣
⁣
Ultimately, Edison failed in his attempts to discredit AC as it turned out it could be distributed over long distances more economically than DC. Westinghouse then won the contract to supply electricity to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago beating out rivals General Electric (Edison’s company).⁣
⁣
Picture: Arthur Mayhew, who walked his last mile on March 12, 1897, Sing Sing Prison