This Day In History | Crime April 8 1899 The first woman is executed in the electric chair

Martha Place is the first woman to be executed in the electric chair. The electric chair, ostensibly designed to be less barbarous than hanging, was first used in the execution of William Kemmler in 1890.

The use of electricity as a means of capital punishment had arisen in the 1880s after the governor of New York claimed that hanging was a method from the dark ages and that electricity was the modern, scientific way to kill people. People were beginning to feel squeamish about the public spectacle of hangings at that time. The electric chair also had the advantage of taking up less space than the gallows.

As electricity was being developed and touted by early supporters for commercial uses in the United States, its energy-source competitors attempted to raise questions about its safety. They hoped that its association with executions would scare the public away from using electricity. Obviously, with the widespread use of electricity today, it didn't quite work out that way.

The controversy surrounding the method of execution has come full circle as the 21st century begins. Most states have discontinued the use of the electric chair in favor of lethal injection.

Martha M. Place Born in New Jersey, Martha Place was struck in the head by a sleigh at the age of 23. Her brother claimed that she never completely recovered and that the accident had left her mentally unstable.

Martha married widower William Place in 1893. Place had a daughter named Ida from a previous marriage. William had married Martha to help him raise his daughter, although later it was rumored that Martha was jealous of the girl.

Before the murder for which Martha was condemned to die, there was at least one incident when William had called the police to arrest his wife on the grounds that she had threatened to kill Ida.

On February 7th 1898, William Place arrived at his home in Brooklyn, New York and was attacked by Martha who was wielding an axe. Place called out for help and when the police arrived, the bloodied body of 17 year old Ida was discovered under a bed, her mouth burnt from having acid forced into it.

The evidence at the scene of the crime indicated that Ida had been smothered to death.

Martha proclaimed her innocence while awaiting trial. One contemporary newspaper report described the defendant in this way: "She is rather tall and spare, with a pale, sharp face. Her nose is long and pointed, her chin sharp and prominent, her lips thin and her forehead retreating. There is something about her face that reminds one of a rat’s, and the bright but changeless eyes somehow strengthen the impression."

Martha Place was found guilty of the murder of her stepdaughter Ida and sentenced to death on July 13, 1898. Her husband had been a key witness against her in the trial.

At the time, women had no right to vote in the United States, consequently they could not sit on juries. The jury that convicted her consisted entirely of men.

Having never executed a woman in the electric chair, those responsible for carrying out the death warrant were forced to devise a new way to place the electrode that would send the electricity through her body. They decided that her dress was to have a slit cut into it and that the electrode was to be placed on her ankle. Shortly before the execution she had her hair cut. Edwin Davis was the executioner. According to the reports of witnesses, she died instantly.

The governor of the State of New York Theodore Roosevelt was called upon to grant a pardon to Place, but he refused the request. Martha Place was buried in the family cemetery plot in East Millstone, New Jersey without religious observances

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