New Jersey's Electric Chair
1907 - 1963

160 Executions

"Old Smokey"

The chair itself was built by Carl F. Adams, founder of Adams Electric, which is still in business in Hamilton, NJ.

Bruno Hauptmann was electrocuted on April 3, 1936 for the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby. Charles A. Lindbergh was America's hero after he preformed the first airplane solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. On March 1, 1932 Lindbergh's 20 month old son, Charles Jr., was kidnapped from his bedroom in their Hopewell, NJ home. Ransom notes first demanded $50,000 then $70,000 for the safe return of the baby. The ransom was paid with US gold notes whose serial numbers had been recorded. The baby was found dead however, and 2 years later Hauptmann was arrested, tried and convicted for the murder of the baby.

New Jersey's electric chair, "Old Smokey," is on display at the NJ State Police Museum, West Trenton, S of intersection of I-95 and Hwy. 29, Exit 1.