Who was the first person to be legally executed using an electric chair?

William Francis Kemmler (May 9, 1860 – August 6, 1890) of Buffalo, New York, was a convicted murderer and the first person in the world to be legally executed using an electric chair.

Kemmler was accused of the March 29, 1889 murder of Matilda "Tillie" Ziegler, his common-law wife, who had been killed with a hatchet. He was tried and convicted of murder on May 10, 1889. On May 13 he was sentenced to death. As of January 1st of that year New York had instituted death by electrocution, the first such law ever. Kemmler's sentence was to be carried out at New York's Auburn Prison via the new electric chair, a device invented in 1881 by Buffalo, New York dentist Alfred Southwick which, after nine years of development and legislation, was ready for use. Kemmler's lawyers appealed, arguing that electrocution was cruel and unusual punishment.

On the morning of his execution, August 6, 1890, Kemmler was awakened at 5:00 a.m. He dressed quickly and put on a suit, necktie, and white shirt. After breakfast and some prayer, the top of his head was shaved. At 6:38 a.m., Kemmler entered the execution room and Warden Charles Durston presented Kemmler to the 17 witnesses in attendance. Kemmler looked at the chair and said: "Gentlemen, I wish you all good luck. I believe I am going to a good place, and I am ready to go."