Harris A. Smiler

Harris A. Smiler was among the first four convicts to be executed by electrocution at Sing Sing Prison, in Ossining, New York.

Electrocution at Sing Sing Age at death Execution date
Harris A. Smiler 32 July 7, 1891
James Slocum 22 July 7, 1891
Joseph Wood 21 July 7, 1891
Schihick Judigo 35 July 7, 1891
Martin D. Loppy 51 December 7, 1891
Charles McElvaine 20 February 8, 1892
Jeremiah Cotte 40 March 28, 1892
Fred McGuire 24 December 19, 1892
James L. Hamilton 40 April 3, 1893
Carlyle Harris 23 May 8, 1893

The electric chair was installed in Sing Sing Prison, in 1891, just a year after it was first used to execute William Kemmler at Auburn Prison, also in New York State. By the end of the 1800s, 29 inmates had been executed by this means. The United States and United Kingdom both began independently tracking murder rate and other crime statistics in earnest at the start of the next century.