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From
the inception of the Republic of Texas in 1836, the method of punishing criminals
was usually by hanging at the county level. But in 1924, the State of Texas took
the responsibility for capital punishment and changed the method from hanging
to electrocution.
Charles Reynolds of Red River County became the first
to die in an electric chair known as “Old Sparky.” Another East Texan, Belton
Harris of Henderson County, built the electric chair.
In October of 1923,
Reynolds cut the throat of Horace Reed, superintendent of a the Mill Gin at Clarksville.
The murder apparently resulted from an argument between the two men.
Reynolds
was soon captured and was charged with Reed’s slaying. A trial was held trial
in December and Reynolds was found guilty.
He was transferred to the Department
of Corrections in Huntsville
and on February 8, 1824, he became the first of five convicted criminals to die
in the electric chair. The others were Mack Matthews, Ewell Morris, Melvin Johnson
and George Washington.
The legislator who introduced the law permitting
death by electrocution, T.K.. Irwin of Dallas,
witnessed the death of the other four men. He said he was “horrified” by the deaths.
In 1964, executions by electrocution were stopped while the U.S. Supreme Court
decided on the fate of execution practices. Executions resumed in 1982 with lethal
injection replacing electrocutions.
The man who built “Old Sparky” was
himself a convicted murderer. Belton Harris was in prison for killing his wife
at Payne Springs near Athens in
Henderson County, He was under the shadow of the death penalty for eight months
until a higher court reversed his sentence and, after a new trial, Harris was
sentenced to 15 years in prison instead.
When he was freed, Harris accepted
a job at a sawmill in Walker County. Because prison officials recognized his mechanical
ability, he was chosen to build the electric chair. He died in 1934 while working
at the mill.
Bob Bowman's East
Texas
April 17, 2011 Column.
A weekly column syndicated in 109 East Texas newspapers
Related
Topics: Texas
Hangings
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