 In 1886 newly elected New York State governor David B. Hill set up a three-member death penalty commission to find a more humane form of execution.The committee included Southwick, human rights advocate and reformer Elbridge Thomas Gerry, and New York lawyer and politician Matthew Hale.They explored many forms of execution and in 1888 recommended electrocution using Southwick's electric chair idea with metal conductors attached to the condemned person's head and feet.