Gruesome Gertie was the nickname given by

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

inmates to the

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

electric chair An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...

. It is also widely known for the failed execution of

Willie Francis Willie Francis (January 12, 1929 – May 9, 1947) was an African American teenager known for surviving a failed execution by electrocution in the United States. He was a juvenile offender sentenced to death at age 16 by the state of Louisiana in ...

, the first failed execution by electric chair.

History

The 1940 Louisiana legislature changed the method of execution, making execution by

electrocution Electrocution is death or severe injury caused by electric shock from electric current passing through the body. The word is derived from "electro" and "execution", but it is also used for accidental death. The term "electrocution" was coined ...

effective from June 1, 1941. Louisiana's electric chair did not have a permanent home at first, and was taken from

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

to parish to perform the executions. The electrocution would usually be carried out in the courthouse or jail of the parish where the condemned inmate had been convicted. Eugene Johnson, a black man convicted of robbing and murdering Steven Bench, a white farmer who lived near Albany, was the first to die in Louisiana's electric chair; he was electrocuted in the Livingston Parish Jail on September 11, 1941. In 1957, it was decided to build an

execution chamber An execution chamber, or death chamber, is a room or chamber in which capital punishment is carried out. Execution chambers are almost always inside the walls of a maximum-security prison, although not always at the same prison where the death ro ...

at the

Louisiana State Penitentiary The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", "The Angola Plantation" and "The Farm"Sutton, Keith "Catfish".Out There: Angola angling. ''ESPN Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. ...

to carry out all executions in Louisiana. Notable executions in the chair were those of Elmo Patrick Sonnier (the inmate on whom the film '' Dead Man Walking'' was based) and

(the only inmate to survive the electric chair; he was ultimately executed after the first attempt failed). Following new legislation enacted in 1991, the State of Louisiana opted for the use of

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...

as the sole method of execution. The last person executed on "Gruesome Gertie" was Andrew Lee Jones, on July 22, 1991. During its fifty years, "Gruesome Gertie" was used for a total of eighty-seven executions. It now sits at the Louisiana Prison Museum in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, Louisiana.

Botched execution

"Gruesome Gertie" is also infamous for having the first known incident of a failed execution by electrocution in the United States. During the execution of

on May 3, 1946, the electric chair had been improperly set up by a drunken prison guard, causing Francis to scream "Take it off! Take it off! Let me breathe!" from behind his leather hood. The execution was aborted, and an appeal was filed to the Supreme Court, which was denied. Francis was later successfully executed on May 9, 1947.

Cultural references

* "Gruesome Gertie" appeared in the film '' Monster's Ball'' for the execution sequence. These scenes with the chair were filmed in the actual execution chamber at Louisiana State Penitentiary, where "Gruesome Gertie" had been used for real executions a decade earlier. * "Gruesome Gertie" is the instrument of death in

Ernest J. Gaines Ernest James Gaines (January 15, 1933 – November 5, 2019) was an American author whose works have been taught in college classrooms and translated into many languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian and Chinese. Four of his works we ...

's novel '' A Lesson Before Dying''. It's used to execute the young black man Jefferson, for a murder he didn't commit. It's also mentioned in another Gaines' novel set in Louisiana, ''

The Tragedy of Brady Sims ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

''.

Gallery

File:RedHatsExecutionChamber.jpg, The former

at the Red Hat Cell Block; the electric chair is a replica of the original Gruesome Gertie

References

{{reflist

External links