On this day, May 2, in 1960, Caryl Whittier Chessman went to the gas chamber in California’s San Quentin Prison. Chessman — also known as the “Red Light Bandit” — was once a cause celebre for the movement to ban capital punishment.
Chessman followed people in their cars in the Los Angeles area and flashed a red light that tricked them into thinking he was a police officer. He would then rob or rape them.
On death row, Chessman wrote best-selling memoirs that led to a worldwide effort to spare his life.
During his execution, as gas filled the death chamber, the warden got a call on the emergency phone saying Chessman had been given a one-hour reprieve. But it was too late. Authorities couldn’t open the door without the fumes killing others.
— Scott McCabe
