Not Edison, but someone who asked to use his facility. I also believe this test was conducted less for shock & awe, and more for finding a way to quickly kill a

Not Edison, but someone who asked to use his facility. I also believe this test was conducted less for shock & awe, and more for finding a way to quickly kill a death-row inmate. The previous attempts were inhumane, to say the least, and keep in mind there was considerable debate over the death penalty at the time. I would guess having a "no, this will kill the person quick" solution instead of a "well, it might maim them, or make them suffer a lot longer as they die" solution makes it easier to sell the death penalty to some of it's opposition. A 'cleaner death' is preferable, I'd imagine. Just my two cents, though, but as we look back on these types of moments in history, it is easy to skew the accepted values of the time and write them off as barbaric.