New York State Electrician was a euphemistic title given to the chief executioner of the State of New York during the use of the electric chair. The position existed from 1890 until the state's last execution in 1963, although the final State Electrician, Dow Hover, remained on call for any future executions until the United States Supreme Court briefly abolished capital punishment with its 1972 decision in Furman v. Georgia.[1][2]
| State Electrician of New York | |
|---|---|
 Seal of New York | |
| New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision | |
| Reports to | The Warden of Sing Sing |
| Appointer | The Governor of New York |
| Term length | Indeterminate |
| Inaugural holder | Edwin Davis 1890–1914 |
| Final holder | Dow Hover 1953-1963 |
| Abolished | 1963 (de facto) 1972 (de jure) |
| Salary | $150 per execution, plus $50 for any additional executions on the same day (from the 1920s up to 1963) |
The State Electrician was contracted by the state at an unchanged rate of $150 per execution (with $50 added for any additional executions performed on the same day) for the duration of the position's existence. New York did not prohibit the officeholder from performing executions for other states or for the federal government, and such arrangements were common, with the New York State Electrician being retained to conduct notable executions such as that of Lindbergh baby killer Richard Hauptmann by the State of New Jersey, Sacco and Vanzetti by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the Rosenbergs by the United States.[1]
List of New York State Electricians
edit| Name | Took office | Left office | Governors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edwin Davis | August 6, 1890 | 1914 | David B. Hill Roswell P. Flower Levi P. Morton Frank S. Black Theodore Roosevelt Benjamin Odell Jr. Charles Evans Hughes John Alden Dix William Sulzer Martin H. Glynn |
| John Hulbert | 1914 | January 29, 1926 | Martin H. Glynn Charles S. Whitman Al Smith |
| Robert G. Elliott | January 29, 1926 | August 24, 1939 | Al Smith Franklin D. Roosevelt Herbert H. Lehman |
| Joseph Francel | August 24, 1939 | August 5, 1953 | Herbert H. Lehman Thomas E. Dewey |
| Dow Hover | August 5, 1953 | August 15, 1963 (de facto) June 29, 1972 (de jure) |
Thomas E. Dewey Averell Harriman Nelson Rockefeller |
References
edit- ^ a b Walsh, Robert (14 April 2016). "NEW YORK'S 'STATE ELECTRICIANS'". Sword and Scale. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- ^ Gonnerman, Jennifer. "The Last Executioner". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
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