One of the First Uses for Electricity

I am really interested in how energy and particularly electricity use was adopted early on in the US. Here is one early example of electricity as a disruptive innovation.

"One notable early use of electricity was the electrocution of criminals. It was chosen as a humane substitute for beheading and hanging, which were both considered barbaric, cruel, and, in the case of the guillotine, too French. The American public preferred a method that would lead to a quicker death. When hanged, bodies would often gasp, twitch, and convulse with pain for some time after the platform was removed from under the criminal’s feet.

Electrocution was proposed to be much quicker and painless. Physicians for the most part were not in favor of this solution because they worried it would taint the popularity of electrotherapy. (More on this topic later) Electricians also objected to this use as they didn’t want electricity to be associated with death. But Edison and other promoters of electricity persevered, and after much experimentation on all types and sizes of live animals, the first criminal electrocution in the U.S. took place on August 4, 1890.

Witnesses, including the jurors who convicted him for murdering his lover, attended the execution of William Kemmler in Auburn, New York. Although the current was supposed to stay on for twenty seconds, the witnesses were so horrified that they screamed for the proceedings to stop after seventeen seconds. As it turns out, it wasn’t certain that Kemmler was dead. A physician thought his heart was still beating, and others heard his throat gurgling and thought they could see him breathing. They screamed again to restart the current, but the dynamo that powered it needed to warm up first. What was touted as a painless, humane solution turned out to be horrifying and painful for both the criminal and the witnesses. In the ultimate irony, the electrocution took place in a building with no electricity save for that which powered the execution. Nonetheless, criminal execution—and electrification—continued."