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    Last Suppers: Famous Final Meals from Death Row
    Last Suppers: Famous Final Meals from Death Row
    Last Suppers: Famous Final Meals from Death Row
    Ebook84 pages1 hour

    Last Suppers: Famous Final Meals from Death Row

    By Ty Treadwell and Michelle Vernon

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    One condemned man requested 24 tacos, 6 enchiladas, and 6 tostadas. Another wanted wild rabbit, biscuits, and blackberry pie. And a two-time murderer asked for a can of SpaghettiOs then complained to the press when he didn't get it!

    Newly revised and updated, the 10th Anniversary Edition of Last Suppers: Famous Final Meals from Death Row contains dozens of intriguing last meals ranging from succulent steak and lobster to the lump of dirt ordered by a former voodoo priest. But Last Suppers is more than just a list of meals; you'll also be treated to weird execution facts, prison recipes, and other tidbits of trivia from America's toughest cell blocks. Ever wondered how the last meal tradition began, or what the most popular entrees are among condemned diners? Curious about the lives and loves of capital punishment's fairer sex, the Death Row Dames? Are you craving a taste of Texas Jailhouse Chili, but don't have the recipe? Dying to know what Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and other famous serial killers ate before their demise? Then pull up a chair, tuck in that bib, and enjoy!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTy Treadwell and Michelle Vernon
    Release dateMay 27, 2011
    ISBN9781458147653
    Last Suppers: Famous Final Meals from Death Row
    Author

    Ty Treadwell and Michelle Vernon

    Ty Treadwell's short stories have appeared in Writer's Journal, Unreality, Over My Dead Body, and many other magazines. These stories can now be found in the collection Down a Crooked Road; Tales of Mystery & Suspense. He has also sold over 150 non-fiction articles. His awards include a gold medal in the essay category at the 2008 GAMMA Awards and first prize in the 2007 Travel Writing Contest sponsored by Writer’s Journal. He once taught writing classes for Clayton State University and now teaches an online writing class that attracts students from across the country.Michelle Vernon was born in Alabama, and raised in North Carolina in a family nurtured by a brilliant and funny academic father and a dramatic and adventurous mother. She credits both parents with her love of learning but her interest in true crime comes from her mother. On a school field trip as a child her mother had her picture taken sitting in Yellow Mama, Alabama’s electric chair!Besides true crime, Michelle has many interests including psychology, nutrition and history. She once spent her vacation on a medieval restoration project in France. She values breadth of experience, illustrated in part by her occupational diversity. She has held positions in printing, retail, food service, counseling, psychology research and is currently a corporate worker bee.She’s an indulgent caretaker to a wonderful dog Patches and cat Piseach. She is a hobbyist soap-maker and In her spare time she loves to ride horses. She has even competed in local barrel-racing and cowboy mounted shooting. She is still in search of her tribe.

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    Book preview

    Last Suppers - Ty Treadwell and Michelle Vernon

    Last Suppers: Famous Final Meals from Death Row

    By Ty Treadwell and Michelle Vernon

    Copyright Ty Treadwell and Michelle Vernon

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without prior written consent from the authors. Reviews may quote brief passages without written consent from the authors as long as proper credit is given.

    Smashwords Edition.

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    TABLE OF CONTENTS

    Introduction

    FAQ

    Death Row Dames

    Zapits Dining Guide

    Last meals, recipes, weird execution facts, and other morsels of information

    are sprinkled throughout the book for your dining pleasure

    INTRODUCTION

    The Ungrateful Dead: Capital Punishment in America

    Once upon a time, execution was considered socially acceptable as a deterrent to all types of social transgressions. Not only murder, but crimes such as adultery, blasphemy, and even non-conformism were once considered heinous enough to warrant a death sentence. In one instance, the suspected theft of a queen’s hairbrush was sufficient grounds for a trip to the gallows. These days, however, kleptomaniacs and other petty crooks can rest easy at night since execution is now reserved only for the most serious of crimes, with the United States remaining one of the few civilized nations to utilize capital punishment as a crime-fighting tool.

    In 1972 the Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional, deeming it both arbitrary and discriminatory, and therefore violating the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. During the confusing four-year hiatus, many state statutes were hastily rewritten to abide by the new Supreme Court standards. As the revamped statutes met with judicial approval, the death penalty was slowly reintroduced on a state-by-state basis. Capital punishment is now legal in 34 states; every state has at least one death row resident, and California leads the pack with a whopping 704.

    Since the return of the death penalty in 1976, over 1200 executions have been carried out across the United States. Texas---where everything is bigger---has performed the most executions (466), followed by Virginia, Oklahoma, and Florida. There are currently over 3000 inmates on Death Row, with each one spending an average of ten years in jail waiting for their sentence to be carried out.

    For the condemned man, execution is sometimes seen as a welcome alternative to a life behind bars. Many executed felons have voluntarily abandoned the appeals process and have requested that their death sentence be carried out ASAP. The individual reasons for hastening their date with death vary greatly; maybe it’s the thought of being permanently confined with a roomie like Charles Manson, or the prospect of having to shovel down three bland, tasteless prison meals per day while trying to keep a 300-pound fellow inmate from stealing your dessert. A few prisoners, such as Ricky Lee Sanderson, have chosen death as a grand gesture of supposed remorse for their crimes. Others may simply get a kick out of manipulating the legal system, as is often suggested in reports of the nation’s most famous volunteer, Gary Gilmore.

    No Noose is Good Noose: Trends in Execution Methods

    Capital punishment is currently reserved for the worst of the worst, the rancid cream of the criminal crop. Rarely is a simple murder considered sufficient grounds for a death sentence. Most are brutal, violent crimes which include murder with other aggravating factors such as torture, rape, or robbery. For example, a man will not receive a death sentence for stabbing a woman 40 times, but he can be executed if he stabs her 40 times and also steals her purse. Most Death Row inmates have a long list of priors for other violent crimes, which sometimes include prior murder convictions. Others have committed their capital offenses while incarcerated, or while on work release from prison.

    While the average criminal's methods of murder seem to get more and more violent, the execution procedures favored by the state have gone in the opposite direction. These days a crazed hammer-wielding killer is likely to receive a far more peaceful sendoff than his victim. This has not, however, always been the case.

    In earlier days, the execution of a criminal was often far more gruesome than the crime itself. Many countries showed an incredible display of creativity in designing methods of torture and death to punish unlucky transgressors of their social order. Christian martyrs in Europe were drowned, stoned, or burned at the stake. Ancient Chinese would secure the criminal in a wooden frame and saw him in half using a two-man bow saw. In medieval England, the executioner would pour molten iron down the prisoner’s throat and burn him to death from the inside-out, or they could burn him from the outside-in by placing him on a gridiron over a fire to create a human barbecue. The French were quite fond of the grisly height-altering device called the guillotine, and in the Middle East the authorities had no hang-ups whatsoever about sentencing criminals to the punishment used in history's most famous execution---crucifixion.

    America has enjoyed a long tradition of hanging those convicted of capital crimes. While many of these executions were carried out without a hitch, there were also numerous reports from the late 1800s of botched hangings so gruesome that they left witnesses horrified. Sometimes a blunder involving the length or strength of a rope required the prisoner to be hanged more than once, or an improperly-tied noose could leave the condemned man twisting and turning for half an hour before he finally choked to death. Although hangings were popular events which drew huge crowds, an occasional

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