Re-enactment of Execution of Czologosz (McKinley's Assassin)
Re-enactment of Execution of Czologosz (McKinley's Assassin)
Re-enactment of the execution by electrocution of Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of President McKinley, "faithfully carried out from the description of an eye witness" according to the original Edison film catalogue. "Grotesque" would be a good descriptor.
Re-enactment of Execution of Czologosz (McKinley's Assassin)
But first some real footage of Auburn Prison sets the scene. As train goes by in FG, cam pans rt on the walls of the prison. Another shot from a higher elevation, pans slowly along the top of a prison building, and tops of trees in prison yard.
Re-enactment of Execution of Czologosz (McKinley's Assassin)
Re-enacted portion: Interior set of a stone wall with an iron barred door. Uniformed guards walk over and open the door and bring out a man in civilian clothes, leading him away; two of them hold onto his arms. The camera then dissolves to a set of the execution room in which a few civilian men stand looking at the electric chair. The prisoner is brought in and strapped to the chair. The 6 witnesses watch as he is supposedly electrocuted (the actor just tenses then relaxes his body three times). Then two of the six witnesses examine him with stethoscopes to see if he is dead.