'Executioner's Current: Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the Invention of the Electric Chair'
by Richard Moran
Alfred A. Knopf, $25
On Aug. 6, 1890, William Kemmler became the first person to be executed in the newly invented electric chair. At a time when electricity was poorly understood and not widely available to the general public, the introduction of the electric chair was announced as an advancement over hanging as a more humane method of execution. Whether death in the chair is actually less painful or more humane has been debated ever since, starting with Kemmler's own botched execution.
But there's a story behind the electric chair. At the end of the 19th century, two emerging power companies were grappling over the emerging market for electrical power.
Thomas Edison's direct current took an early lead but was rapidly overtaken by the advantages of alternating current offered by his competitor, Westinghouse.
In "Executioner's Current," Richard Moran carefully details Edison's remarkably sleazy efforts to discredit alternating current (and Westinghouse) by developing the electric chair, covertly lobbying New York to embrace the new technology and - most important - utilizing alternating current to operate the chair. Edison then sought to disparage alternating current by dubbing it the "executioner's current," far too dangerous for common use.
Westinghouse took up the challenge, funding death-penalty litigation to challenge the new method of execution as unconstitutionally cruel and unusual. Both sides cloaked their less-appealing commercial interests.
Although Edison won the legal battle and the electric chair was adopted by numerous states, he lost the commercial fight as alternating current overtook direct current and became the U.S. standard for electricity. Edison's underhanded efforts and his role as the father of the electric chair have largely been overshadowed by his contributions as the classic American entrepreneurial inventor.
"Executioner's Current" aims to set the record straight. As this thoughtful volume attests, Edison left behind a deadly legacy: More than 4,300 people have been executed in the electric chair in the United States, more than all other methods of execution combined. And the debate over the mechanics of the death penalty still rages.
