Joseph Francel (September 2, 1895 – January 25, 1981) was an electrician from Cairo, New York, who was the state of New York's

executioner An executioner, also known as a hangman or headsman, is an official who executes a sentence of capital punishment on a legally condemned person. Scope and job The executioner was usually presented with a warrant authorising or order ...

from 1939 until 1953.

Life and career

He was a World War I veteran, having served as a sergeant in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

. His first execution was the triple electrocution of Anton Myslivec, Everett McDonald, and Theodore Maselkiewicz on December 21, 1939, in

Sing Sing Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about north of ...

's death chamber. Among those he executed were

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (; September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American citizens who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. The couple were convicted of providing top-secret i ...

. Like his predecessors, Francel also performed electrocutions in the neighboring states that used the

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, ...

as method of execution. After the execution of William Draper, whom he had electrocuted in Sing Sing on July 23, 1953, Francel decided to quit his job. At the time of his resignation in August 1953, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' reported that Francel was dissatisfied with his pay of $150 per execution, and that he was particularly exasperated about threats to his life.

Life and career

References

See also