True Crime Historian

The Early Days Of The Electric ChairThis is a combination of two early episodes with a common theme.The Shocking Death Of William Kemmler: The First Electric ExecutionJump to AD-FREE Safe House EditionEpisode 19. Following the brutal murder of his common law wife Tillie Ziegler in Buffalo, New York, March, 1889, the rough character William Kemmler said he was glad he did it was was happy to hang for the crime. He did not quite get his wish, as a newly passed law in the state of New York allowed Kemmler to become the first man to die in the electric chair. His executioners knew that the execution would be an experiment of sorts, and it was not exactly the rousing success they had hoped for, but it did usher in a new era in America’s criminal justice system.Quadruple Electrocutions: Four Murders, Four ExecutionsJump to AD-FREE Safe House EditionEpisode 39 is a follow-up to Episode 19, "The Shocking Death of William Kemmler," which I had published about two months prior. If you remember, that execution went so b