“Sorry I got you girls into this,” Maude said as she peered out between the cell bars, “especially you Lorraine.”
“That’s all right ma, I went along with both of you,” the 21-year-old woman replied.
“I can’t believe they’re still going to kill us,” Wilma said as she paced back and forth in her cell. “They never execute women, the governor can still call, he has to.”
Maude grasp the bars, “Don’t get your hopes up. We took out some really important men. We got their money, but their families want us dead. They have the political pull with the courts and we don’t.”
“Quite crying around Wilma, this whole mess was your idea to start with,” Lorraine said. “I accept my sentence, I’m ready to die. It’s the only way I can redeem my soul.”
Maude looked down and shook her head, “Girl’s don’t go fighting among yourselves now, we’re going to go with dignity. Don’t give them another flashy head line for their morning papers.”
“The only thing I’m mad about now is that they made me cut my hair,” Lorraine said. “I always like it long. I’d brush it and brush it. They bobbed my hair, that’s the only thing I don’t like.”
“It looks nice,” Maude said. “They done a good job on yours. You’d look good Lorraine no matter how you wore your hair.”
All three of them looked out of their cells and toward the door at the end of the hallway. The warden and the prison Chaplin entered the small, narrow cell block. “Do any of you wish to see the Chaplin?” The warden asked.
“No, no, no, I don’t want to hear someone tell me I’m going to hell,” Wilma cried out.
“Too late for me,” Maude answered.
Lorraine nodded, “I do.”
Lorraine’s cell door was opened allowing the Chaplin to enter her cell. As he sat down beside her three women guards which had been brought in from the state’s women’s prison walked along side three prison nurses. They stopped right outside a door that separated the cell block from the rest of the prison.
Lorraine spent the next several minutes talking to the Chaplin in a low voice to where no one else would here. As the Chaplin stood and started to leave the cell she looked at him, “I’m ready, I’m at peace.”
“God bless you,” he said as he walked away.
The Chaplin was no sooner through the main door of the cell block when the female guards and nurses entered. One guard and one nurse went to each cell and entered. “Ok ladies, strip down to your birthday suits,” the guard ordered. “The nurse will check you over and then put these new dresses on. We’ll then move you to cells down stair. You can keep your shoes for now, but no socks.”
Once the nurse was finished and Maude and her daughter’s dressed in the light blue button up dresses, they were led one at a time to three adjunct cells on the first floor where they waited for several minutes before being led one at a time to the death house which sat just outside the main prison building. Maude was first to be led to the death house and placed in a cell followed by Lorraine and then Wilma.
As Maude heard the last cell door close she called out to her daughter’s, “Hang in there girl’s, we’re going out together and we’ll going out with our heads high. My girl’s are not cowards.
Suddenly Maude saw her cell door open. “Take off your shoes,” a guard ordered.
Maude lifted her left foot and grabbed her loafer by the heel and slid it off her foot. She then placed her left foot onto the floor and lifted her right foot. She slid her right shoe off and then placed both shoes on the floor.
A woman guard placed her hand on Maude’s shoulder and gently pushed, “It’s time.”
Maude walked in the center of the escorting guards to the gas chamber. She was seated into the center of the three chairs and was quickly strapped in.
Lorraine’s cell door slid open. “Take off your shoes,” the guard ordered.
Lorraine didn’t say a word. She bent over and held her shoes as she slid her feet out of them. She straightened herself and looked at the people waiting outside the cell. “I’m ready,” she said as she stepped out of the cell. She was quiet as she walked to the gas chamber where guards placed her in the chair to Maude’s right.
Wilma’s cell door opened. As the guards entered the cell she backed up against the wall. She shook her head for no as they stepped closed to her, “No, no!” She cried out.
“Take off your shoes,” one guard commanded.
Wilma now had her back to the wall, wilted and slid down the wall coming to rest on the floor. One of the guards knelt down and removed Wilma’s shoes from her feet and the others helped her to stand.
Scared motionless, Wilma was supported by guards holding her up by her arms as she was walked down the hall and to the gas chamber. She was placed in the chair to Maude’s left.
“Please, please no, don’t do this to me,” Wilma whined as she was secured to the chair by heavy straps.
“Remember not to fight it, take several deep breaths,” one of the guards said as they left the chamber and then shut and sealed the door.
“Hold you chins up girls,” Maude said. “How are you doing Lorraine?”
“I’m fine Ma. I just want to get it over with and see what God does with me.”
“Pull yourself together Wilma, no use on crying about it now. Hold you head high, make your mother proud.”
A sudden metal clank announced that the cyanide pellets had been dropped into the bucket of sulfuric acid below Maude’s chair.
Lorraine held her breath for a few seconds and then took a few deep breaths. Her head slumped forward and rolled slightly before becoming still. Her shoulders lumped as her body relaxed.
Maude took a deep breath and then jerked her head in slight back and forth motions a few times as she grasped the arms of the chair and her toes cured and tightened together. Suddenly her body relaxed and her head fell forward. She let out a long, hard sigh as the air left in her lungs emptied.
Wilma held her breath so hard that her cheeks puffed out. Her complexion turned red and then she could no longer hold her breath no longer. She took a breath of the cyanide gas and quickly snapped her head backwards. Her fingers clawed at the arms of the metal chair and her toes pointed upwards and spread apart as she kicked her feet. Wilma’s head jerked back and forth several times as her face turned a purple-reddish color. Her chest heaved against the heavy strap. Wilma continued to convulse for several more minutes as het body slowly died. The convulsions gradually slowed and then she slumped forward, held in place by the straps.
The warden and the doctor watched the clock and the condemned women to make sure there was no more signs of movement and then declared them executed after 10 minutes had passed.
Murderess Mother And Her Killer Daughters Defiant Till The End As Gas Claims Them, read the headline in the morning papers.

 

Fantastic story!

 

Thanks

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