In the 1880's, electricity was a new and novel power source. Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse were the two major players in the struggle to control electrical utilities. Technical and economic circumstances made Westinghouse's alternating current superior to Edison's direct current. Alternating current was soon adopted as the standard for electrical transmission world wide.
Edison had tried to convince everyone that Westinghouse's AC current was unsafe and was delighted when New York State introduced the electric chair, which required alternating current.
The electric chair was used in 19 states at various times and also by the Philippines, the only country outside America to use it.

Into law in New York.
On June 4th 1888 the New York Legislature passed Chapter 489 of Laws of New York of 1888, providing for the execution by "a current of electricity of sufficient intensity to cause death" for offences committed after January 1st 1889.
There was one small problem - New York did not possess an electric chair and had to commission Harold Brown, an electrician, to build a chair for each of the three prisons where executions were to take place - Auburn, Sing Sing and Clinton. This seemed an over provision for an average of 8 executions per annum state-wide.
Brown favored Westinghouse's alternating current for the purpose, which made him most unpopular with George Westinghouse who was trying to promote it as a safe form of domestic energy. Westinghouse refused to supply Brown with the necessary generators and he was forced to buy second hand units.
The chairs were solid oak constructions and each had two electrodes, one for the prisoner's head and one for the lower back.

The first electrocution - William Kemmler August 6th 1890.
William Kemmler was convicted of the murder of his lover Tillie Ziegler and became the first man to be sentenced to death under the new law.
Kemmler's lawyers appealed, sighting the Eighth and Fourteenth amendments to the Constitution, which prohibit "cruel and unusual punishment". The appeal was turned down on October 9th 1889 and the execution date was fixed for August 6th 1890. It was a strangely casual affair carried out in the presence of twenty five witnesses, fourteen of them doctors. Kemmler was led into the execution chamber in the basement of Auburn prison and was introduced to the witnesses before taking off his coat and seating himself into the chair.

The head and spinal electrodes each consisted of a 4 inch diameter wooden cup, containing a three inch diameter metal plate faced with a layer of sponge which was soaked in brine to improve conductivity.
Kemmler was strapped into the chair by leather straps around his arms legs and waist. The head electrode, in a leather harness, was applied and a black cloth was pulled over his face. The warden, Charles Durston, gave the signal to Edwin Davis, the executioner, to throw the switch which caused Kemmler to go completely rigid.
He remained in this condition for seventeen seconds until the current was turned off and then his whole body appeared to relax. He was certified dead, but after half a minute there were a series of spasmodic movements of the chest which tended to indicate that he was not, in fact, dead and the warden ordered a second charge of electricity which lasted about seventy seconds until vapor and later smoke could be seen rising from the spinal electrode accompanied by the smell of burning flesh.
At this point the current was again switched off and the body carefully examined. There were no signs of life and Kemmler was dead. Not everyone was impressed by the "humanity" of the new method and an expert interviewed for the New York Times said that the execution was "an awful botch, Kemmler was literally roasted to death".

Women in the chair.
Martha Place became the first woman to die in the electric chair when she was executed on March 20th 1899 at New York's Sing Sing prison for the murder of her step daughter Ida in February of the same year.
An account of the execution in the National Police Gazette said she was guided into the death chamber, clutching a Bible. "Her eyes were closed, she was dressed in a black gown with a few fancy frills at the bosom. She wore russet slippers." A spot had been clipped near the crown of her head to make room for the electrode. Another electrode was fastened to her leg. A current of 1,760 volts went through her body in an execution that was "successful in every way". The doctor who pronounced Martha dead was also a woman.

23 women have been electrocuted in America in the 20th century, for individual details) and one in the 21st century (see below).
Ruth Snyder, who was executed January 12th 1928, aged 33, became the subject of a very famous photograph taken at the moment of her death by New York Daily News photographer, Tom Howard, using a hidden 16-millimeter one-shot camera strapped to his ankle, with the shutter release controlled from his pocket. She had been convicted of murdering her husband.

Judi Beunoano was the first woman to have been electrocuted since the resumption of executions in 1977. She went to the electric chair in Florida's Starke prison on March 30th 1998 for 4 murders, her execution taking 12 minutes to carry out. She was dubbed the "Black Widow" by the press.
Lynda Lyon Block was electrocuted in Alabama on May 10th 2002 for the murder of a policeman in Opelika on October 4th 1993. She may well be the last person to suffer this form of death in America and will almost certainly be the last woman. Her execution was described thus : Wearing a white prison outfit with her shaved head covered by a black hood and wearing light makeup, with mascara and a light shade of pink lipstick she was led into the execution room at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. Witnesses said she appeared to pray with her eyes closed about 11:52 p.m. She made no final statement. The execution began with a 2,050-volt, 20-second shock, which caused Block to clench her fists, her body tensed and steam came from the sponge on her head and the electrode on her left leg. She then received 250 volts for 100 seconds. The whole execution took just two minutes.