Untold History: Edison and the botching of the electric chair

Below is a rush transcript of this segment:

I want to tell you a story about a guy you never heard of before, William Kemmler. He lived in New York City, a pretty bad guy, a drunk, very abusive to his wife, his child, ugly. He was a vegetable cart salesman, and he would take his vegetables and stuff out, and he would get the food from the farmer's market, stack up his cart, push his push cart out and sell it all day, he'd come home, start drinking and beat his wife.

One day, he came home and I don't remember what the scrabble was about, but all the neighbors heard it, and he went downstairs and he went back to his cart -- trying to remember what he used. I think it was a tapper or 2-by-4, but he went back upstairs, in front of his child, he beat his wife to death. Blood splattered everywhere. He throws the weapon down, walks out in the hall. Everybody in the building had heard it. Everyone was standing out in the hall. As he came around, splattered in blood, he looked at the crowd in the hallway and he said well, they'll hang me for this. He went outside, police came, arrested him.

It was one of the more famous murders in New York City. New York City at the time was a very rough and gruesome place, especially in the Tenderloin District. This is 1890, when political corruption had gone awry, but there was something else that was going on.

Before this murder, for about five years, there was a dentist up in Buffalo, who had written Thomas Edison over and over again, and said there's got to be a more humane way of killing people than hanging. It's barbaric. How can we do it? You are the smartest man in the country.

Thomas Edison wrote back I have no stake on this. I don't know how to help you. The guy kept writing him over and over. Edison, you know, was perturbed by this guy. What does he have to do with me? But that

letter kept coming.

It was sitting on his desk one day, when everyone was up in arms about Kemmler. Edison was trying to stop Tesla's new radical idea of AC. DC was where Edison put all his money. That's a battery, but date, it was a

power plant. A power plant would have been about every two blocks, no more than a mile away, and this would have to be some sort of a coal-fired or diesel-fired generator. I think it was coal-fired at the time and they would have to keep the again rater running all the time to keep your electricity running in your house, and it was now battery-powered, but then, little teeny generators all over the country. That was Edison's idea.

Well, Tesla thought that was ridiculous. You can't have all these generators running every wrote, so he thought of alternating current, AC. That's where we get our plug, our outlets are AC outlets.

Well, Edison had all his money in DC. Edison had all the power, literally, the power in Wall Street and the power of the government. He needed to start some way to thwart Tesla. So what he had done, just google search a couple things today. Google search Topsy the Elephant.

This came after the turn of the century, but in the 1880 an '90s, Edison actually hired a really sick, almost Mengele-like doctor to go around in the towns, all around the country and electrocute with this new AC power, new AC current, electrocute horses and cows and sheep and dogs. It made people violently ill. The doctor would say, just want you to know, this is DC power. Look, I can hold onto it and it shocks you, but doesn't kill you, but let me show you what AC can do. It will kill you dead. You don't want this sitting in your home? How many of us will die because of Tesla and that greedy Westinghouse? Let me show you what happens to a dog.

He would fry a dog, kill a horse. Edison himself, after the turn of the century, just out of sheer spite, electrocuted an elephant. Topsy the Elephant, you can see it on Edison vision, Edison films. He was proud of it. Look it up. Google it.

The reason I bring this story up is because at the time, he couldn't convince the American people, so he decided he would embrace AC. He would embrace Tesla. And say that is really good for something. There's progress for you. We can use this to electrocute people. So because the world or the country was so enamored with the brutal killings that William Kemmler did, Edison used that as the case. He wrote the doctor in Buffalo, New York and said I know what to do. You need to Westinghouse Mr. Kemmler. Westinghouse has this new AC power. I have been saying how dangerous it is.

While Kemmler was in the prison for about two years, because this went on and on. They could have hung him, but they wanted a new humane way. So Edison went and he testified and said this is the way. The doctor that went around, the sick doctor that went around electrocuting horses and -- testified this is the way to do it. Do you have the volts right? You sure we can kill them quickly?

Well, while this was going on, Kemmler, now away from alcohol, now being preached to by the guards and by the warden, had happen change of heart.

He accepted his consequence, knew he had to die, wanted to die, but didn't look forward to it with glee, kill me now. He wanted to go meet Jesus. He knew the only way is if he asked true forgiveness, then accepted the consequences of his actions. At the end, he was actually preaching to the other cell mates, the other people on death row. When the warden eventually came in, the warden was crying, he didn't want to kill him. He knew he had to. Kemmler said don't worry about it. It's my actions that brought this on.

When they strapped him to the electric chair, Kemmler knew that it was a big deal and knew that if it didn't go well, it would hurt the warden. So as they strapped him in, they shaved his head, put a sponge on his head and strapped all this sponge with water, dripping down his face, they strapped his arms in, he said warden, because there were people from The New York Times, people from all over the press, witnesses there, they were all -- I need to talk to you for a second. The warden came over. He said I need to talk to you privately. The warden leaned right into him. He whispered, 'This is not going to go well for you if

I jerk too much. You don't have the straps on my arms tight enough. Please have someone tighten them.'

The warden could barely hold back the tears. He asked for a guard to tighten them back up again. Then they threw the switch. The generator was down below. All the lights dimmed and the juice ran through Kemmler's body. It reason through for I don't know how long, and they stopped. And he was pronounced dead. Then he moved. They listened to his heart. And the people in the room cried out, 'Dear God, he's still alive!'

They scrambled and they turned the juice on again, and they turned the juice on so long to kill him. Reports will say -- there were erroneous reports that he was actually set on fire. I believe he was actually set on fire. I believe that was the Edison machine that tried to lessen the effects, because the reports that I have read was that he was set on fire, that people were vomiting, that people couldn't get out fast enough, because of the stench of the burning flesh. Edison was never, ever questioned or held responsible in any way for that electrocution.

The reason I tell you this story today is because there is a --there's something that happened in Arizona. A man was given the death penalty. He was executed, and he lived. Now, there are some reports saying this was cruel and unusual punishment, because he was groaning, coughing, gasping for air. Others say that's not true. I don't know what the truth is. I don't know what the truth is.

But there's two things that have to be brought up: One, whether we agree with the death penalty or not is beside the point. We have the death penalty in certain states. If we are going to do the death penalty, it needs to be done correctly, swiftly, quickly. I don't know why we don't have a firing squad anymore. You have not 10, 12, 15 people, put a couple of bullets in, make sure they are marksmen, shoot them in the head. That's if you believe in the death penalty. If you don't, then let's make that case. But if you do, what's the fastest way to kill someone? We don't stone people, we don't do what Edison did. And Edison, the worst, I mean -- I hope Edison had a lot of time to think about it in the eternal courts of what he did somewhere for money. But we do the right thing.

So there's point number one. But a bigger point, because it is about us, is what's now happening on the message boards. What's happening on comment sections, what's happening online, what people are actually saying about this guy. And it's the same story we're hearing, no matter what it is, whether it's about Israel, whether it is about the border, or this execution. Yeah, well, look what happened. Look what's been going on for so long. For instance, Israel. Yeah, but this has been going on for a long time. You don't know how disenfranchised and humiliated they were. Whatever. I got it. With the border. Yeah, but this is destroying our country and we have been talking about this for a long time.

I got it. I got it. Justifiable anger. In this case, this guy's been waiting for 25 years. How long do we have to wait? What are all of them saying? What do all those have in common? They all have one thing in common. I want justice. I want justice. When the government loses a handle on justice, we lose a handle on our mercy, because we get angry.

Now, I don't think that the average person is what we're reading on the message boards, the comment sections. I don't think those people are, but I don't know anymore. I don't know anymore. I choose to believe that that is the vast minority, and I really, truly believe it. But I will tell you I don't want to believe the other. I don't want to live in that world where everyone is ugly and dark, because if that's really the way we are, then we are so far lost, the Constitution, everything else, we are going to become Nazi Germany. If that is really who we are, where we don't care and say well, I don't care. Torture him. Kill him, who cares. If that's who we are, kill all the Jews. Let those people on the border just starve. If that's who we are, we are already lost and too far gone, but I don't think we are.

This is why we have to talk about justice. Freedom is a concept, is a luxury, is a luxury for society that pays attention, but we are not even paying attention, so how can we possibly teach freedom when there's no justice? Because what everybody says about freedom, yeah, but what do you do about the bad guys. Well, you don't have an answer for that, because how do I make things -- how do they make things more free, when justice isn't being served under this system?

We have to look for the ways to be just and merciful. We have to boil it down, stop look at the big concepts for a while, and start -- or the small concepts and start looking at the fundamentals, just the fundamentals. And we have to be those people that begin to demand justice on all fronts. If there's an injustice anywhere, there's an injustice everywhere, so we must start to train ourselves to care about the other person's injustice, even though it is not ours, because quite honestly, it is easy to fight for our injustice. It is really hard and I think it's the only when that gives us credibility, when we fight against the injustice against someone else we don't agree with. And that's where we need to be on the front line.

This is a battle, this is a revolution, but it is a revolution of the mind and the heart first.

TOP 5 issues that have gotten WORSE since the last State of the Union

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

If you saw Biden's State of the Union last week, or Glenn's firey reaction to it, you know that Biden hardly spoke a word that wasn't a flat-out lie.

If you spent the last 12 months in a fallout shelter and Biden's speech was the only media interaction you had since the last State of the Union, you might be tempted to believe that the country has improved in some way over the past year. But the rest of us, who have been living above ground, going to the grocery store, and paying some attention to current events, had only to look around to see that Biden's speech was nothing but hot air.

Here are the TOP 5 issues that have gotten worse since the last State of the Union.

Economy

Biden spent a significant amount of time during the State of the Union boasting about the strength of his economy, but anyone who has checked their bank account lately was left wondering if he was holding his speech upside down. It's not just the cobwebs in your wallet; the numbers show the devastation wrought by "Bidenomics" too. In 2022, American grocery bills increased by 11.4 percent and restaurant bills by 7.7 percent. In 2023 prices only continued to rise, with an additional 1.2 percent increase in food-at-home prices and a 5.1 percent increase in away-from-home prices.

Debt crisis and inflation

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

The national debt continues to grow, and Biden managed to add almost 3 trillion dollars in just one year. As of December 2022, the national debt was $31.42 trillion. As of January 2024, the national debt has risen to $34.19 trillion.

Inflation didn't fare much better. While the 2023 annual inflation rate did drop from the horror of 2022, from 6.5 to 3.4 percent, that is still significantly higher than anything we saw before 2021. You also have to remember that it CARRIES year to year, as Glenn explained in his response to Biden's State of the Union: "Yes, it's not as bad as it was, but it's still what it was PLUS what it is now."

Border

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

Biden's mismanagement of the southern border has inflamed the border crisis to all-time highs. In 2022 there were a staggering 2.2 million illegal border crossings, but that wasn't enough for Biden apparently, as an additional 2.5 million illegally crossed in 2023. An estimated 10 million illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border since Biden took office, and the effects are being felt. There has been a surge in crime across the country that is impacting millions of Americans, including the tragic murder of Laken Riley.

Fentanyl

The fentanyl crisis has only continued to worsen as more and more synthetic opioids flood our streets. Between the fiscal year 2021 and 2022, there was a shocking 54 percent increase in fentanyl trafficking offenses as more and more of the narcotic is smuggled across the southern border. We also saw an increase in fentanyl overdose deaths. In 2022 there were approximately 73,654 deaths, which is a significant increase from 70,601 in 2021.

Education and mental health

While the pandemic is long over, the lingering effects of the lockdowns are still being felt. Unsurprisingly, missing years of school has a major impact on the educational development of children. Kids across America are STILL struggling from pandemic-related setbacks, reading scores are still falling, and parents are reporting that their kids are struggling in their studies. The mental health crisis, another symptom of the COVID lockdowns, has also continued to worsen. Tragically, suicides increased by 2.6 percent between 2021 and 2022, marking the continued decline of mental health in America.

TOP FIVE takeaways from Super Tuesday

Anna Moneymaker / Staff, Win McNamee / Staff | Getty Images

The 2024 Presidential Election is taking shape.

Yesterday was Super Tuesday, the single biggest day in the presidential primary season. More than one-third of all delegates needed for a candidate to become the Presidential nominee of their party was up for grabs along with a plethora of state and local elections. In short, yesterday's results will shape the rest of the election season. It was a big deal.

Here are the top 5 takeaways from yesterday's elections:

Haley drops out

Nikki Haley drops out of the 2024 Presidential election.

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

After the mass exodus of Republican candidates in January, most commentators agreed that it was only a matter of time before Haley stepped out as well. Haley put up a valiant effort and held out almost two months longer than the other Republican candidates, but after a disappointing turnout on Super Tuesday, she made the call to step back from the race. There was a small victory for Haley fans, however, in that she won Vermont, her first state primary victory following her win in Washington, D.C.

Trump sweeps the board

Trump wins over 1,000 delegates during Super Tuesday.

Win McNamee / Staff | Getty Images

While Haley had a disappointing day yesterday, Trump and his team celebrated a huge win. Aside from Vermont, Trump won every state that had a primary. At the time this was written, Trump had picked up a whopping 731 delegates, bringing his total to 1,004, out of the required 1,215 to win the presidential nomination.

Democrats are not committed to Biden

Biden wins big on Super Tuesday, but he is struggling to maintain his Democrat base.

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

On paper, Biden had an excellent Super Tuesday, winning every state primary except American Samoa. However, a closer look reveals cracks in his supporter base. Yesterday, a shocking 19 percent of Minnesota Democrats voted for "uncommitted" instead of Biden. While that wasn't enough to change the outcome of the primary, it shows that Biden is walking on shaky ground, even among Democrats.

This phenomenon wasn't limited to Minnesota either. Eight percent of Colorado and Tennessee Democrats voted "uncommitted," and 10 percent of Massachusetts Democrats and 10 percent of North Carolina Democrats voted "no preference." Is this more evidence of a third-quarter bait-and-switch that Glenn has hypothesized?

The search to replace Feinstein continues

Adam Schiff and Steve Harvey compete for Diane Feinstein's Senate seat.

Anna Moneymaker / Staff, Barry King / Contributor | Getty Images

California is having two Senate elections to replace the late Senator Dianne Feinstein. There is a special election to fill out the remainder of her term and a regular election to fill her seat for the next six years. The results of the Tuesday primaries put Republican and former Los Angeles Dodgers player Steve Garvey and Democrat Adam Schiff as the front runners, and the two of them will be going head-to-head in November. Surprisingly, even in deep blue California, Garvey won more votes than Schiff in the special primary. Does Garvey have a chance?

Ted Cruz is back up for election in Texas

Ted Cruz is up for re-election in 2024

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

The Texas senate primaries were also on Tuesday, and Ted Cruz is back up for election in November. Cruz comfortably won the Republican Primaries with 88 percent of Texas Republicans backing him. Rep. Colin Allred, a Dallas-area congressman won the Democratic primary with a narrower margin of 58 percent. While it's easy for Texans to take their state's red status for granted, it is vital Texans stay vigilant and cast their vote this November.

This is YOUR CHANCE to make a difference!

Tomorrow is Super Tuesday, arguably the most consequential election day leading up to the 2024 election. However, every election leading up to November is critical for determining the trajectory of our country. This may be the most important election season in recent memory, so it is imperative that we do our part and head to the polls, even for smaller elections.

Listeners of Glenn's show are already aware of the multitudes of serious problems that face our nation. From the crisis on the southern border that's letting criminals flood our streets to the never-ending flow of American tax dollars funding a proxy war in Ukraine, it's clear that the people currently in charge are not cutout for the job.

We need to put responsible people back in office and we cannot let any more left-wing activists take power. YOU need to go out and vote and make your voice heard. Check out our COMPLETE list of all the upcoming elections in the 2024 election season. Mark your calendars, plan ahead, and STAND UP!

Alabama

State Primary- March 5th

State Primary Runoff- April 2nd

Presidential Primary- March 5th

Click here for more information

Alaska

State Primary- August 20th

Republican Presidential Caucus- March 5th

Democratic Presidential Caucus-April 6th

Click here for more information

Arizona

State Primary- July 30th

Presidential Primary- March 19th

Click here for more information

Arkansas

State Primary- March 5th

State Primary Runoff- April 2nd

Presidential Primary- March 5th

Click here for more information

California

State Primary- March 5th

Presidential Primary- March 5th

Click here for more information

Colorado

State Primary- June 25th

Presidential Primary- March 5th

Click here for more information

Connecticut

State Primary- August 13th

Presidential Primary- April 2nd

Click here for more information

Delaware

State Primary- September 3rd

Presidential Primary- April 2nd

Click here for more information

Florida

State Primary- August 20th

Presidential Primary- March 19th

Click here for more information

Georgia

State Primary- May 21st

Presidential Primary- March 12th

Click here for more information

Hawaii

State Primary- August 10th

Republican Presidential Caucus- March 12th

Democratic Presidential Caucus- April 6th

Click here for more information

Idaho

State Primary- May 21st

Republican Presidential Caucus- March 2nd

Democratic Presidential Caucus- May 23rd

Click here for more information

Illinois

State Primary- March 19th

Presidential Primary- March 19th

Click here for more information

Indiana

State Primary- May 7th

Presidential Primary- May 7th

Click here for more information

Iowa

State Primary- June 4th

Republican Presidential Caucus- January 15th

Democratic Presidential Caucus- January 15th

Click here for more information

Kansas

State Primary- August 6th

Presidential Primary- March 19th

Click here for more information

Kentucky

State Primary- May 21st

Presidential Primary- May 21st

Click here for more information

Louisiana

State Primary- March 23rd

State Primary Runoff- April 12th - April 17th

Presidential Primary- March 23rd

Click here for more information

Maine

State Primary- June 11th

Presidential Primary- March 5th

Click here for more information

Maryland

State Primary- May 14th

Presidential Primary- May 14th

Click here for more information

Massachusetts

State Primary- September 17th

Presidential Primary- March 5th

Click here for more information

Michigan

State Primary- August 6th

Presidential Primary- February 27th

Click here for more information

Minnesota

State Primary- August 13th

Presidential Primary- March 5th

Click here for more information

Mississippi

State Primary- March 12th

State Primary Runoff- April 2nd

Presidential Primary- March 12th

Click here for more information

Missouri

State Primary- August 6th

Republican Presidential Caucus- March 2nd

Democratic Presidential Caucus- March 23rd

Click here for more information

Montana

State Primary- June 4th

Presidential Primary- June 4t

Click here for more information

Nebraska

State Primary- May 14th

Presidential Primary- May 14th

Click here for more information

Nevada

State Primary-​ June 11th

Presidential Primary-​ February 6th

Click here for more information

New Hampshire

State Primary- September 10th

Presidential Primary- March 12th

Click here for more information

New Jersey

State Primary- June 4th

Presidential Primary- June 4th

Click here for more information

New Mexico

State Primary- June 4th

Presidential Primary- June 4th

Click here for more information

New York

State Primary- June 25th

Presidential Primary- April 2nd

Click here for more information

North Carolina

State Primary- March 5th

State Primary Runoff- TBD

Presidential Primary- March 5th

Click here for more information

North Dakota

State Primary-June 11th

Republican Presidential Caucus- March 4th

Democratic Presidential Caucus- April 6th

Click here for more information

Ohio

State Primary- March 19th

Presidential Primary- March 19th

Click here for more information

Oklahoma

State Primary- June 18th

Presidential Primary- March 5th

Click here for more information

Oregon

State Primary- March 19th

Presidential Primary- March 19th

Click here for more information

Pennsylvania

State Primary- April 23rd

Presidential Primary- April 23rd

Click here for more information

Rhode Island

State Primary- September 10th

Presidential Primary- April 2nd

Click here for more information

South Carolina

State Primary- June 11th

State Primary Runoff- June 25th

Republican Presidential Caucus- February 24th

Democratic Presidential Caucus- February 3rd

Click here for more information

South Dakota

State Primary- June 4th

State Primary Runoff- August 13th

Presidential Primary- June 4th

Click here for more information

Tennessee

State Primary- August 1st

State Primary Runoff- August 31st

Presidential Primary- March 5th

Click here for more information

Texas

State Primary- March 5th

State Primary Runoff- May 28th

Presidential Primary- March 5th

Click here for more information

Utah

State Primary- June 25th

Presidential Primary- March 5th

Click here for more information

Vermont

State Primary-August 13th

Presidential Primary- March 5th

Click here for more information

Virginia

State Primary- June 18th

Presidential Primary- March 5th

Click here for more information

Washington

State Primary- August 6th

Presidential Primary- March 12th

Click here for more information

West Virginia

State Primary-May 14th

Presidential Primary- March 5th

Click here for more information

Wisconsin

State Primary- August 13th

Presidential Primary- April 2nd

Click here for more information

Wyoming

State Primary- August 20th

Republican Presidential Caucus- TBD

Democratic Presidential Caucus- April 13th

Click here for more information

Soros is trying to elect MORE TEXAS RINOs. Here's how YOU can stop him.

David McNew / Staff | Getty Images

Texas is under threat of a George Soros-backed takeover.

Soros-funded RINO judges have been elected in some of the highest courts in Texas. These judges implemented restrictions that have blocked nearly a thousand cases of voter fraud from being investigated or prosecuted from across the state. These new restrictions are similar to ones in place in states like George, Arizona, and Wisconsin, leaving Texas more susceptible to election corruption than ever. If Texas falls to corruption, America will lose its largest bastion of conservative electoral power in the nation. Without Texas, Republicans WILL NOT be able to win national elections and liberal corruption will go unchecked across the country.

Fortunately, there is a way to stop this: YOU.

If you live in Texas you have a chance to stand up against corruption and to fight back! Starting Tuesday, February 20th, early voting for the primaries begins, where three of these judges are up for election. Go out and vote. If the right people are voted in, there's a good chance the restrictions will be lifted and election fraud can once again be prosecuted.

But remember, you can't just go in and vote for anyone who has an "R" next to their name. Sorors knows that a registered Democrat would never stand a chance in Texas, so his lackeys register as Republicans and ride the little "R" right into office. So who do you vote for?

Fortunately, Glenn had Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on his show today and Ken gave us his list of judges that he vouches for. His list is as follows:

  • Gina Parker
  • Lee Finley
  • David Schenck
The Primary Election runs from February 20th to March 5th. This is your chance to get out there and make a difference. It might be the most important election you ever participate in. If you need to know where your nearest polling location is, or any other information regarding the election, you can go to votetexas.gov to find out more.
It's time to stand up.