Antonio Triola was led into the death room at Sing Sing prison smiling.
It was 1903, and he had been sentenced to die in the electric chair for the murder of Mamie Cereli, a young theatrical performer who had refused to marry him. But according to the report, the execution did not end quickly.
One shock was followed by another, and then another, until five separate shocks had been delivered before Triola was pronounced dead.
State Electrician Davis offered a grim explanation afterward, blaming Triola’s thin build and thick, greasy hair for resisting the current.
Five Shocks Needed to Kill Him
Five shocks of electricity were given to Antonio Triola in the electric chair at Sing Sing yesterday before he was pronounced dead.
State Electrician Davis says it is harder to kill a thin man, like Triola, than a stout man, for the former has not enough tissues to convey the current quickly to a vital spot. Mr. Davis also says that Triola had thick, greasy hair, which resisted the current.
Triola was smiling as he entered the death room, and he continued to smile until the cap was pulled down over his face.
The first shock consisted of seventeen hundred volts and four amperes. It was kept up for thirty seconds.
A second shock, consisting of eight amperes, was then given.
A third and a fourth shock, each of eight amperes, failed to kill the man, and it was not until a fifth shock, also of eight amperes, had been given that he was pronounced dead.
There was no burning of the flesh, only the usual blistering.
Triola killed a young theatrical performer, Mamie Cereli, who refused to marry him.
Source: New York Tribune. New York, N.Y. May 26, 1903.
