The BBC artist page for Willie Francis. Had he been saved from death by the hand of the Almighty? There were two really big things wrong with this whole case and execution. I find this kind of unfair. 10569 Gillette Street His last words were, “I’ll show you that it won’t shoot.” 23. “I wasn’t after money,” Willie insisted to a reporter before he went to the chair a second time. Inside, the executioners still smelling of liquor after spending a late night in the local taverns -- strapped Willie into the electric chair. I'll be watching over you. But Willie Francis did not die. The 17 year old black youth had been sentenced to death by electrocution in 1945 for murdering a white drugstore owner in his native St. Martinville, Louisiana, but faulty wiring and drunken executioners prevented the chair from completing its gruesome work. But he never came home. My name is Rev Willie Francis, and I was born in the state of Louisiana an I want to know if the state of Louisiana will right the wrong of Willie Francis. In fact, Willie Francis, just as he had when he wrote in his confession that “it was a secret about me and him,” alluded to something different than the robbery-turned killing prosecutors accused him of. One minute he was joking around with us and the next bright red blood was spewing out of his mouth. I don’t know if this man is are was related to me, If so I want to know.??? Change item Copy item Add picture Suggest catalogue value Link to another category History. Catalogue information. He packed his own bag and drove himself to hospital. Yet he would never elaborate, and took whatever “secret” there was between him and Thomas to his grave. 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.” After departing his homeland a traitor, the Connecticut-born hero of Saratoga, settled in New Brunswick, Canada before relocating to London in 1791. Willie screamed and writhed under his restraints. Willie Wortel. Charged with the murder of a local Cajun pharmacist, Willie Franciss trial had been brief and a guilty verdict was never in doubt. Dreams they leave and die. Willies appointed lawyers called no witnesses, presented no evidence and had not filed a single appeal once he was sentenced to die by electrocution. Willie Francis (January 12, 1929 – May 9, 1947) was an American best known for surviving a failed execution by electrocution in the United States. Willie Francis is best remembered for getting out of the electric chair, shaken but alive, minutes after being strapped into it. He became known as the "Killer Clown" thanks to the numerous parties he attended where he worked as a children's entertainer wearing a clown suit and full-face makeup. Willie Francis (Ska/Reggae singer) Willie Francis, born Wilbert Francis March 18, 1943 in Farm District in South Manchester, Jamaica is a Ska/Reggae singer who went to prominence in the late 1960's and throughout the 1970's and known for hits such as 'Oh What a Mini' which was a top ten hit in the Jamaican charts. Despite the fact that the murdered pharmacist was one of DeBlancs best friends, and the knowledge that his own family was rooted in white supremacy, DeBlanc would battle those on both sides of the color line in the hope of saving Willie Francis from an inhuman fate. The handwriting matched Willie’s. The chair shuddered and slid across the floor. Could Louisiana really electrocute someone twice? In addition to accounts of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945, editions of Louisiana newspapers carried news of the arrest of Willie Francis, a black, stuttering, semi-literate teenager accused of the murder of small-town pharmacist Andrew Thomas. The Execution of Willie Francis: Race, Murder, and the Search for Justice in the American South Gilbert King, Basic Civitas, 362 pp., $26 In 1946 Willie Francis, a 17-year-old African American, sat in an electric chair, about to die. Three hundred pounds of oak and metal, the chair had been dubbed Gruesome Gertie. At 12:08 PM, the executioners flipped the switch. the cast st. martinville excerpt from the book about the author reviews the book contact info and book club news and appearances links. One of the things that drew me to this story as I was working on my book, The Execution of Willie Francis, was the shroud of secrecy that surrounded the Willie Francis case. “You look like an angel.” “I’m a nurse and was previously working at an assisted living community on the dementia/Alzheimer’s unit. Willie Francis (Ska/Reggae singer) Willie Francis, born Wilbert Francis March 18, 1943 in Farm District in South Manchester, Jamaica is a Ska/Reggae singer who went to prominence in the late 1960's and throughout the 1970's and known for hits such as 'Oh What a Mini' which was a top ten hit in the Jamaican charts. Thomas’ brother Claude was the town’s chief of police, and Willie was convicted by twelve Cajun jurors and sentenced to death by a Cajun judge. Overland Park, Ks 66215 William Francis Sutton Jr. (June 30, 1901 – November 2, 1980) was an American bank robber. But the Sheriff had also taken Willie’s words out of context, reading only select portions of the writing, and mischaracterizing others. We’ve compiled a photographic gallery of heart-wrenching images which capture the last moments before disaster of several United States Army Air Force bombers during World War II. Required fields are marked *, © Copyright 2020 ExecutedToday.com :: All Rights Reserved :: A WordPress joint Theme originally by WarAxe at Negative99, modified by Brian at Logjamming Contact the Headsman. Add to my search list. On May 9, 1947, Willie Francis was executed in the same electric chair that he had walked away from a year and a week earlier, when a drunken prison guard and trustee bungled the wiring. He’d been brought back to his cell, and the sheriff allowed reporters and a photographer to visit with Willie, where he told them that death tasted “like peanut butter” and looked a lot “like shines in a rooster’s tail.” The photographer asked for a few pictures, and Willie, holding his dog-eared Bible, stood in front of a dull pink wall. But he disputed the prosecution’s accusation that he was trying to rob the pharmacist. Your email address will not be published. You will be notified immediately when it is offered for sale. Goodnight, God bless. In 1946, Louisiana guards attempted to execute 16-year-old Willie Francis … On May 3, 1946, in picturesque St. Martinville, Louisiana, a seventeen year-old black boy was scheduled for execution by electric chair inside of a tiny redbrick jail. Is it really legal to kill a person twice? But there was some writing on the wall image that was barely legible. The prosecution based its entire case on a confession obtained while Willie was in police custody without the aid of a lawyer. “I wasn’t after money,” Willie insisted to a reporter before he went to the chair a second time.