| Apr. 30th, 2005 @ 03:37 pm Bury Me Naught in the Keys, but in Greenwood. |
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And all I could think of while putting in this entry was that song about "Bad, bad, Leroy Brown. The baddest man in the whole dang town. Badder than old King Kong, and meaner than a junkyard dog." But how often do the bad guys try and hide from embarrassment from their families out of protection?
I wonder how much it cost to go to Florida for your brother's hanging back in 1927?
"'It's quite a thing, to see a man die.'
...As many as 2,000 people gathered early that day near the red brick jail, close by a gallows of unfinished pine boards. Children were let out of school to see justice served...
...the last living witness[:] "It's quite a thing, to see a man die," he said. "It was profound on me, the way they led him up the steps, put the cap over his head and the noose around his neck. It's indelible in my mind."
...He was convicted of the October 1923 murder of Howard "Red" Usher, a Daytona Beach taxi driver...
...It was Usher's last fare. He was found hours later, shot three times and dumped along a beachside road...
The former amateur boxer told authorities his name was Charlie Brown.
"I gave that name when they arrested me in order to shield my family name and keep the news of my arrest from my dear old mother and sister," Perelli told a friend in a letter scrawled from death row...
...sentenced to death on Jan. 2, 1924, one day after Florida switched to the electric chair. Until then, sheriffs hanged condemned criminals in the county seat...
...Atop the gallows, with the noose around his neck, Perelli said nothing when Stone grasped the trap lever and asked: "Are you ready, Charlie Brown?" Then, at six minutes after 10, Perelli dropped.
...Among the witnesses were Usher's father and brothers, who watched impassively for 24 long minutes while Perelli died at the end of the taut, twitching rope. Stone later gave them the noose as a memento... |
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