AGENT OF DEATH: The Memoirs of an Executioner

Elliot, Robert G.

Publication Date: 1940

About this Item

Please see any and all photos connected with this listing. No Dustjacket. A bit scuffed but all pages intact and legible. Good reading copy. Clean. No store stamps. --- --- Robert Greene Elliott was the "state electrician" (i.e., executioner) for the State of New York. . .and for those neighboring states that used the electric chair, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Massachusetts during the period 1926-1939. --- --- Elliott is credited with perfecting judicial execution by electrocution. He usually made the first contact at 2000 volts, holding it there for 3 seconds. Then he lowered the voltage to 500 volts for the balance of the first minute; raised it to 2000 volts for a further 3 seconds; lowered the voltage to 500 volts for the rest of the second minute; then raised it again to 2000 volts for a few seconds before shutting off the power. Elliott recommended that the ideal amperage for executions was around 8 amps. . . . .His technique was intended to render the victim unconscious, in an instant, with the first massive shock, while the lower voltage heated the vital organs to a point where life was extinguished, without causing undue bodily burning. This oscillating cycle of shocks also seized the heart, causing it to go into arrest and stop beating. He often carried his own electrodes with him, including a head-piece made from a cut-down football helmet, lined with a moist sponge. . . Seller Inventory # 26370

Bibliographic Details

Title: AGENT OF DEATH: The Memoirs of an Executioner

Publication Date: 1940

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket

Edition: First Edition