REPOST: DATE OF LAST MILITARY EXECUTION

[*I AM* (TEXT & HTML)]

*G* *O* *D* *S* *C* *R* *E* *A* *T* *O* *R*



(R. Serrano, Los Angeles Times, 7/12/94).
"Last Soldier to Die at Levenworth Hanged in an April Storm,"

On April 13, 1961, U.S. Army Private John A. Bennett
was hanged... after being convicted of rape and attempted murder. :-(

He was 18 when he joined the Army, 19 when he was court-martialed
and three days past his 26th birthday when he was hanged.

It was the only time he ever was in trouble.

His birth certificate said he was "colored," and his death
certificate said
"negroid." Karl Menninger, the renowned Kansas psychiatrist, lobbied
the Kennedy White House not to take the life of this
"undistinguished epileptic Negro soldier."

He was the last man to die by military execution and the only one
put to death for rape during peacetime.

He died for raping a white girl in Austria , a country that had no
death penalty.

Indeed, on the eve of the hanging, the victim and her parents urged
President John F. Kennedy to spare him.

He was Pvt. John Arthur Bennett. Born into a share-cropping family
in southern Virginia , he hoped the Army would pull him out of poverty.

Instead he spent most of his Army years on military Death Row,
six years in which six other black soldiers were hanged while all four of
the white men-many of them multiple murderers-were saved.

[.......................]
In one final shot on his last day, Bennett wired the President.
"I beg in the name of God . . . " he began the short telegram.

It ended:
"Will you please in the name of God and mercy spare my life?"

He was whisked from his cell and into the rain and up the scaffold.

He had been so afraid of rainstorms, and so by his side hurried
the Rev. Thomas Carter, the prison chaplain, using a penlight
to read-shout, actually-the 23rd and 46th Psalms as they
rushed Bennett to the arms of the executioner.


The soldier's last words:
"May God have mercy on your souls."

---> http://www.deathrowspeaks.info/military/militarydeathrow.html

The old "Sexual Insecurity" factor? :-\




God's Creator!
(I am Life & Death) 8-)

[Joel Edge]

Post by *I AM* (TEXT & HTML)
*G* *O* *D* *S* *C* *R* *E* *A* *T* *O* *R*
(R. Serrano, Los Angeles Times, 7/12/94).
"Last Soldier to Die at Levenworth Hanged in an April Storm,"
On April 13, 1961, U.S. Army Private John A. Bennett
was hanged... after being convicted of rape and attempted murder. :-(
He was 18 when he joined the Army, 19 when he was court-martialed
and three days past his 26th birthday when he was hanged.
It was the only time he ever was in trouble.
His birth certificate said he was "colored," and his death
certificate said
"negroid." Karl Menninger, the renowned Kansas psychiatrist, lobbied
the Kennedy White House not to take the life of this
"undistinguished epileptic Negro soldier."
He was the last man to die by military execution and the only one
put to death for rape during peacetime.
He died for raping a white girl in Austria , a country that had no
death penalty.
Indeed, on the eve of the hanging, the victim and her parents urged
President John F. Kennedy to spare him.
He was Pvt. John Arthur Bennett. Born into a share-cropping family
in southern Virginia , he hoped the Army would pull him out of poverty.
Instead he spent most of his Army years on military Death Row,
six years in which six other black soldiers were hanged while all four of
the white men-many of them multiple murderers-were saved.
[.......................]
In one final shot on his last day, Bennett wired the President.
"I beg in the name of God . . . " he began the short telegram.
"Will you please in the name of God and mercy spare my life?"
He was whisked from his cell and into the rain and up the scaffold.
He had been so afraid of rainstorms, and so by his side hurried
the Rev. Thomas Carter, the prison chaplain, using a penlight
to read-shout, actually-the 23rd and 46th Psalms as they
rushed Bennett to the arms of the executioner.
"May God have mercy on your souls."
---> http://www.deathrowspeaks.info/military/militarydeathrow.html
The old "Sexual Insecurity" factor? :-\
God's Creator!
(I am Life & Death) 8-)

And you point is? Do you you even have one?