Posted on 05/03/2024 7:17:48 AM PDT by CheshireTheCat
The truck was a 1941 International Harvester K–3 two-ton cornbinder, from the manufacturer known at the time for its production of heavy-duty farm equipment. Painted red, it was mounted with a large, gray sheet-metal trailer, unmarked and nondescript. In fact, the only thing odd about this truck was the additional muffler and exhaust pipe that extended from the roof of the van. It would not have turned heads, at least not until it pulled up to park behind a Louisiana parish jail. Then, as photographs show, people would stop dead in their tracks and stare, as if some ancient beast of classical mythology was lurking behind the thick, metal doors. And when Captain Ephie Foster, the Angola prison guard who, on May 3, 1946 had arrived to execute Willie Francis emerged from the truck, they stared at him, too — their somber eyes carefully registering the face of a killer.
May 3rd was supposed to be Willie’s last day on earth. His head had been shaved and his pant leg had been torn so that current could cleanly surge through the body of the 17-year-old Louisiana youth as he sat strapped into the electric chair known as “Gruesome Gertie.” But things did not proceed as planned in the small town of St. Martinville. Foster and his assistant had been drinking and did not wire the chair properly on that hot morning, and when the switch was thrown, Willie convulsed and screamed for more than a minute, until it became obvious to everyone in the death room that something was wrong. “I am not dying,” Willie shouted, until finally, the sheriff ordered the electricity shut off.....
(Excerpt) Read more at executedtoday.com ...
“Scotty, I need more power!”
“”But Louisiana had a traveling electric chair that turned an execution into a bizarre, macabre road show.””
Hmmmm - wonder if we could have some of those worked into the federal budget. Park them in the ghetto neighborhoods. Now shape up OR~~~~~~~!
“1941 International Harvester K–3 two-ton cornbinder”
I know I’m being picking over a subject that really does not matter, but the truck’s nick name “cornbinder” should be Korn Binder. My Dad had a 1949 model, and everyone in that era called them Korn Binders. So I asked once why such a name? It’s because the heavier models were KB’s, as in KB6, which was my Dad’s truck. The farmers simply interpreted the “KB” as “Korn Binder”. It was a joke that stuck.
Any IH vehicle, whether a half ton pickup or a big rig was simply called a Korn Binder.
Davis, "the Singing Governor," recorded the Western Swing classic You Are My Sunshine in 1940. He also claimed writer's credit, but that's in disupute,
Davis also waxed I Wish I Had Never Seen Sunshine in 1936. Sounds like Sunshine was a poor choice for a girl friend.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/willie-francis
Many years ago, columnist Ed Anger in (I think) the Weekly World News suggested wiring up aluminum bleachers to dispose of criminals en masse.
I miss the old tabloids.
My ‘63 IH pickup truck was a Rowbinder. That’s what they’re called in Texas. Its name was Bubba. Because of course.
Why not? A matter of economics, you know!
Famous Not Last Words. :-)
I don't care show you are, that's funny!
A 38 special round to the brain would have finished the job. Why issue weapons to cops if they don’t use them?
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