EXECUTIONER'S CURRENT Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the Invention of the Electric Chair

Hardback. The incredible story of how the electric chair developed - not out of the desire for a more humane method of execution, but through the efforts of one 19th-century electric company to discredit the other. The battle between Edison's DC current and Westinghouse's AC system led to Edison persuading the state of New York to use the AC current to discredit Westinghouse. The first execution in the chair of William Kemler took place in August 1890 and was horribly botched. The story of the tug-of-war and the disturbing questions it raised. Illus., A Note on Terminology, Notes and Index. 271pp. 8vo. h/back. With tiny label to fpd o/w F. in Vg+ dw. which has a crease to lower edge of fr. cover.