Old Smokey

For other uses, see Old Smoky (disambiguation).

Old Smokey is a euphemistic name given to the state prison electric chair in New Jersey, which is currently on exhibition at the Newseum in Washington, DC as part of an exhibition detailing great cases of the FBI. It had previously been on display at the New Jersey State Police Museum. The chair's most infamous client was Bruno Hauptmann, the man executed in the chair after being found guilty of abducting and killing Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. in 1932, the 20-month-old son of famous aviators Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh (see Lindbergh kidnapping). It was also the name given to Pennsylvania's electric chair.

Executions

In New Jersey, the chair was used in the electrocution of 159 men between 1907 and 1963. In Pennsylvania, the chair was used in the electrocution of 348 men and two women between 1915 and 1962.

New Jersey abolished capital punishment in 2007. Pennsylvania abolished electrocution in favor of lethal injection in 1990.

References

External links

• NJ State Police Museum
• The Newseum