Gaines, Ernest J.: 1933 - 2019
A Lesson Before Dying, 1993 - Background
- Willie Francis survived a failed execution by electrocution.
- The disturbing story from norforkschools: "Willie Francis, a black youth of seventeen years, sat in the state’s electric chair, strapped in, ready to die. He would survive the electrocution in a way no one else had." 2009
- Man who survived the electric chair describes what it felt like: "The electric chair apparently failed as it was set up incorrectly by the two executioners who were drinking the night before." December 22, 2022