AUBURN, N.Y., August 6, 1890.—The killing of Kemmler to-day marks, I fear, the beginning and the end of electrocution, and it wreathes in shame the ages of the great Empire State who, entrusted with the terrific responsibility of killing a man as a man was never killed before, brought to the task imperfect machinery and turned and execution into a horror.
William Kemmler is dead, indeed, but at what a price? He has paid a double penance for his crime and a penance for his childlike trust in man who by their carelessness have brought shame upon the great State whose servants they are.
Kemmler's Death by Torture: Twice the Current Was Sent through the Murderers Quivering Frame - New York Herald 7aug 1890
