1. William Francis Kemmler was an American murderer who was the first person executed by electric chair.
13 Facts About William Kemmler
1. 2.
William Kemmler was convicted of murdering Matilda "Tillie" Ziegler, his common-law wife, a year earlier.
3.
William Kemmler's father died from an infection he received after a drunken brawl, and his mother from complications of alcoholism.
4.
William Kemmler was known to friends as "Philadelphia Billy", and his drinking binges were very well known around the saloons in his Buffalo neighborhood.
5.
William Kemmler was a vegetable peddler in the slums of Buffalo, New York.
6.
William Kemmler accused her of stealing from him and preparing to run away with a friend of his.
7.
William Kemmler then went to a neighbor's house and announced he had just murdered his girlfriend.
8.
William Kemmler's lawyers appealed, arguing that electrocution was a cruel and unusual punishment.
9.
Witnesses remarked that William Kemmler was composed at his execution; he did not scream, cry, or resist in any way.
10.
William Kemmler sat down on the chair, but was ordered to get up by the warden so a hole could be cut in his suit through which a second electrical lead could be attached.
11.
William Kemmler was strapped to the chair, his face was covered and the metal restraint put on his bare head.
12.
The power was turned off and William Kemmler was declared dead by Edward Charles Spitzka.
13.
William Kemmler is buried in the precincts of the prison where his execution took place.