Daily Archives: August 6, 2015


William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by electric chair. He is put to death at New York’s Auburn Prison. The electric chair was intended as a more humane way of killing condemned prisoners. This first attempt did not fulfil expectations, as it appeared to fry Kemmler rather than kill him. His death gave birth to a new word – to electrocute. This portmanteau combined […]

On this day in … 1890