Smith Riggs Blacksmith Shop

Smith Riggs Blacksmith Shop. . It was on this site that Smith Riggs, 65, emerged into the public eye in 1928, for his work on instruments of death – two electric chairs. It took a great deal of persuading on the part of Indianapolis hospital consultant, JF. Gregries to accept the contract. Riggs stated:, “I thought what a terrible thing it would be if an innocent man would be electrocuted in one of them. Then I thought of the many innocent persons who are murdered in cold blood each year. All night long these thoughts ran through my mind. Finally, I decided that they might need the chairs up in Illinois; so I told Gregries the next day that I would make them.”, The new type of chair, according to Gregries, would lessen the time required to strap a doomed man into the chair before his electrocution. Ordinarily it required from five to ten minutes to strap a man into the chair. The chairs Riggs built took less than one minute to strap the condemned into the chair., When completed, the chairs went to the Illinois State Penitentiaries in Joliet and Menard. Today, one is in a museum in Menard, and the other is still at the prison in Joliet. The reason Smith Riggs made the chairs was because Rising Sun is one of the few places where the required timber for the chairs could be found., [Captions] , . (Top) The Smith Riggs electric chair, 1928 , . (Bottom) The building on the left is Smith Riggs' blacksmith shop on Front Street. This is where he made the two electric chairs. Photo depicts 1937 flood.