The Fascinating Electric Chair Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which state first suggested the electric chair as a method of execution?

Answer: New York

After a gruesome hanging in 1887, New York decided to start a committee to search for a humane method of execution. Harold P. Brown, an employee of Thomas Edison, created the first Electric Chair using the formula from Nikola Tesla's alternating current. The Alternating-Current Electric Chair was adopted by the committee in 1889. (Wikipedia page on the Electric Chair).

2. Name the first person to be executed in the electric chair.

Answer: William Kemmler

William Kemmler, who gruesomely murdered his wife by hatchet, was sentenced to death in the Electric Chair. It took two jolts of 1,000 volts of electricity to end Kemmler's life. The first left William unconscious, but it failed to cut off his breathing and stop his heart.

The second made his blood vessels burst as his body caught on fire. It took eight minutes. The execution was deemed a total failure; "Far worse than hanging," George Westinghouse said. "They could've done better with an axe."

3. Obviously, women were electrocuted, too. Who was the first?

Answer: Martha Place

Martha M. Place, at age 44, was convicted and sentenced to death for killing her 17-year-old daughter Ida. Ida had acid thrown in her eyes as she was smothered with a pillow. Martha was rumored to be jealous of Ida, and may have had some mental illnesses. We'll never know now, because she was executed in Sing Sing Prison, in New York, on March 20, 1899.

4. Many states used the electric chair, 26 to be exact. How else would the term "Electrocution" come to scare death-row prisoners all over the nation? But some states never adopted the chair as their method of execution. Name one of those states.

Answer: Nevada

Nevada, however, was the first state to use the infamous gas chamber. The chamber's first victim was Gee Jon, convicted of killing Tom Quong Kee on August 7, 1921. Although Gee Jon was put in the gas chamber, his accomplice Hughie Sing was given life imprisonment.

5. How many volts are usually required to deliver a successful execution by the electric chair?

Answer: 1,000 - 2,500 volts

Too low a voltage will fail to render the prisoner unconscious. And obviously, that gives the condemned some excruciating pain. Too many volts will set the prisoner ablaze, and/or rupture the blood vessels.

However, volts aren't the real killers when it comes to electrocution. Amps are what determine that. While volts measure how hot the electricity is, amps measure how powerful the volts are, and how powerful they hit. Usually, about 7 amps are required for successful execution.

6. As with nearly every method of execution, there have been failed attempt to kill the person sentenced to death. One 17-year-old boy was put in the chair on May 3, 1946. However, the chair was not charged with enough volts. This poor guy screamed, "Take it off! Let me breathe! I'm not dying!" as the currents zapped him. Who was the victim to this botched execution?

Answer: Willie Francis

The first prisoner to fall victim to a failed electric execution, Willie Francis was put in the chair on May 3, 1946 for the murder of Andrew Thomas. When the chair failed to render him unconsciousness, he was removed from the chair and taken back to his jail cell, where some famous pictures were taken of him.

After some debate on whether they should "execute" Willie a second time, he was finally successfully executed on May 9, 1947. (Facts and quotes retrieved from http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0329_0459_ZD.html)

7. Which of the following is NOT necessary for the condemned prisoner to do in order to prepare for the execution in the Electric Chair?

Answer: Eat a final meal

Eating a last meal is optional. For example, some prisoners decided that they'd just eat the prison meal of the day, or they just didn't want to eat anything.

Shaving the head and legs are mandatory, so the electricity can conduct better and knock the prisoner unconscious. The cotton? Well, that's so they don't mess themselves, since their bowels empty when the second electric shock hits them.

8. The last prisoner to fry in Alabama died on May 10, 2002, and was 54 years old at the time of her death. She was convicted of killing Roger Motley, an Opelika police officer, by shooting him when her husband was confronted by him. Tell me the name of this prisoner.

Answer: Lynda Block

Lynda Lyon Block is the last prisoner to die in the in Alabama's electric chair. It is unlikely that any other prisoner will ever involuntarily die in the electric chair, because it is not a prime method of execution in *any* U.S. state.

Lynda's common-law husband, George, was executed by lethal injection three years later for involvement in the murder.

9. Surprisingly, almost every electric chair had its own unique nickname. For example, the one in Alabama was nicknamed "Yellow Mama," since it was painted yellow with highway-line paint. There's one nickname, which has been used in many states - Arkansas, Georgia, and Texas, to name a few. What were those chairs nicknamed?

Answer: Old Sparky

'Old Sparky' was the most popular name for an electric chair, by far. Arkansas, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, New York, and Texas nicknamed AT LEAST one of their electric chairs "Old Sparky." Gruesome Gertie was used for another chair in Louisiana. Old Smokey was used for the chair in New Jersey, the chair that Bruno Hauptmann died in.

10. Although it is illegal to snap a picture or film the prisoner wihle the electricity passes through their body, photographer and photojournalist Tom Howard had his 15 minutes when he took a secret picture of ______, using a puny one-time camera strapped to his ankle when he was allowed to view the execution.

Answer: Ruth Snyder

The picture was snapped on January 12, 1928, in Sing Sing prison in New York. If having a camera in the execution room wasn't bad enough, he snapped the picture AFTER the current was turned on!

Ruth Brown Snyder was convicted, with her boyfriend Henry Judd Gray, of garroting her husband so they could get $48,000, as part of his life insurance plan. Their scheme of blaming each other backfired, as the jury 'believed' both of them, so they were ultimately both sentenced to death and executed.

The famous camera that snapped the picture is currently sitting in Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

Source: Author xxFregiltxx

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Nearly every American has heard of the notorious execution method, the Electric Chair. This riveting way of killing prisoners has always been a key topic for historians. NOTE: This is my first quiz. Constructive criticism is appreciated.

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