Page 73 - 1921 VES Meteor

VoL. V
JUNE, 1021
No.4
m::be aast ~inute-a €;maple's ~ale
I sat in the electric chair with bead, wrists, and legs firmly strapped, and the horrible paraphernalia in place, all ready to cut short my life, my then precions life, in one agonizing split second. The executioner, a cold, steely man, was hand- ling some switches and testing his current, which would soon course through my body and numb my heart. The doctor sat
in a comer, holding a small _black bag on his lap and car- l'essillg the little bag lovingly with his long talon-like fingers. I heard him whisper to the executioner: "Looks pretty scared. Going to take it easy." He spoke with no tremor of excitement-just exactly as if he were discussing the state
of tho weather instead of the passing of a man's soul.
As I sat there in that cold, metallic contrivance, roy brain was flooded with thoughts and memories, and so intense was my concentration that it actually burned and hurt in my throbbing brain. I could feel something pushing in on my breast-hard. M~· heart was pounding so that it shook my
whole frame. A dizziness came oYer me and my eyes began to open wider and wider until it seemed as if they would burst from their 8ockets. I clamped my jaws shut so tightly that my ca1·s ached. Could a roan be blamed~ I had one
minute to live!
The executioner nodded to the doctor, who took out his
watch and began playing with it. "A minute yet," he said.