As part of a vigorous campaign to modernize Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1890, Emperor Menelik II eagerly ordered three electric chairs from New York, where the world's first electric chair had recently been installed (at Auburn Prison). Only when the chairs arrived and were unpacked did the emperor realize that he had a small problem: his kingdom had no electricity.

Abyssinian criminals heaved a collective sigh of relief as two of the chairs were consigned to the scrap heap. The third, incredibly, was converted into Menelik's imperial throne.

Whilst reading about Emperor Menelik II, I also discovered that the emperor Menelik took literally Francis Bacon's maxim that "some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." He firmly believed that, should he happen to feel unwell, he need only eat a few pages of the Bible in order regain his health.
Recovering from a stroke in December 1913, Menelik, feeling more ill than ever, ordered that the complete Book of Kings be torn from the Bible and fed to him, page by page.
Found on the wacky scientist entry for making electric lemons.