Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Monday, April 21, 2008 at 06:29:06 :
The Marin Journal
Thursday, April 24, 1924
Page 1
Double Execution At San Quentin Prison
The first double execution in California for several years took place Monday with the hanging of William Bringhurst and Willard Thompson for the slaying of two Los Angeles policemen.
Their lips moving in prayer as they ascended the gallows steps, the men went to death apparently without fear. Bringhurst, the younger of the two, smiled as he found footing on the trap and glanced over the unusually large audience as if seeking among them a familiar face.
The trap was sprung at 10:15 and 12 minutes later Dr. L. L. Stanley raised his hand, the answering signal to the raised palm of the executioner which had called for the drop.
Dr. Julian H. Alco, Christian Science practitioner, stood with the men on the scaffold. He had been their spiritual consoler in their days spent in the death cell. The two men, who had been enemies since their trial and conviction for the double murder, shook hands and pledged friendship as they stepped from the death cell to take their last short journey. The crowd of spectators, numbering 100, included ten deputy sheriffs from Los Angeles. They accompanied ten prisoners from the southern city to the penitentiary.
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