Posted on 05/02/2023 8:49:50 AM PDT by CheshireTheCat
On this date fifty years ago, death row author and celebrity Caryl Chessman choked to death in San Quentin Prison’s gas chamber while the phone outside rang, too late, with his stay. During his abnormally protracted* (for the times) 12 years fighting death, Chessman became the poster child for the anti-capital punishment cause and the most recognizable face on death row.
He was condemned as the “Red Light Bandit,” a Los Angeles criminal who would waylay cars in lovers’ lanes with police-like flashing red lights, then rob and, for some female victims, rape them. A career felon, Chessman denied his guilt to his death (he insisted that his signed confession was beaten out of him by the LAPD, which would not exactly have been out of character).
The prickly Chessman — “not generally regarded as a pleasant or socially minded fellow,” he conceded about himself — unwisely represented himself at trial, where the confession plus eyewitness testimony of Bandit victims were enough to convict him.
Not, however, of murder.....
(Excerpt) Read more at executedtoday.com ...
Was this the guy portrayed by Alan Alda in ‘Kill Me If You Can’?...............
Caryl Chessman sniffs the air
And leads the parade
He knows, in a scent
You can bottle all you made
-Genesis (Broadway Melody Of 1974)
I always wondered what on earth that line meant
Any clue?
It was 70 years ago.
I always thought “In a scent” was implying that he was “innocent”.
I lived in California at the time and this was a wildly publicized case. Even in 6th grade we were all aware of it. I don’t know how we learned of it but somehow the news of his execution made it all around the playground.
I was wrong. It was 1960.
ooohhh... that’s a good one- now that I know the context
Still one of my all-time favorite albums.
Holy smokes, I always wondered what that line was about.
(big gabriel and lamb lies fan)
I think Jerry Brown tried to talk his father, Gov. Pat Brown, into sparing Chessman’s life.
Anyone know? Surmise? The cops themselves?
Yes; a blatant homophone.
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