§ 72 Total Loss!
For the first time in the history of the State—it was a Southern State—an electrocution took place within the walls of the State prison. The Legislature, keeping step with the march of progress and civilization, had ordered the installation of an electric chair to take the honored place of the old-fashioned slip-noose under the left ears of the fathers.
A negro “trusty” was an unwilling witness to the first performance under the new arrangement. The warden had detailed him as helper to the paid executioner. He issued forth from the lethal chamber with popped eyes and ashen face.
A group of his fellow convicts knotted about him, anxious to hear the grisly details. He proceeded to elucidate:
“Well, suhs,” he said, with a shiver, “they teks an’ strops you down, hand an’ foot, in a big cheer. An’ den they clamps some lil’ things onto yo’ haid an’ yo’ laigs. An’ den one of de w’ite men he step over to whar they’s a little jigger set in de wall an’ he give it a lil’ yank—zzz—like dat!”
Here he paused and fetched a deep breath.
“Whut den? whut den?” came the chorus.
“Nothin’ but ruin—jes’ absolute ruin!”