Yasmin Tirado-Chiodini

On Thanksgiving Day, during our family gathering, we pray you to have mercy on Antonio Pontón _

The physiological effects of an electrocution are severe and painful. Besides launching the body into violent convulsions, the electrocution of a human being causes massive destruction throughout the body.

The Death House back then was a self-contained unit, with its own hospital, kitchen, exercise yard and visiting room. The cells were inadequate, dark, and did not have proper sanitary facilities or ventilation. One window and skylight furnished the ventilation and light of the entire unit. Twelve cells were on the lower tier, six on each side, facing each other, with a narrow corridor between them. Five cells were located in an upper tier. There was an area the prisoners called the Dance Hall that housed a prisoner to be executed on his last day. The narrow corridor connected the Dance Hall to the execution room, where the Electric Chair resided. The prisoners named this corridor the Last Mile or the Green Mile, because this was the last walk a prisoner would take all the way to the small green riveted door at the end of the corridor, on his way to the execution room.

He woke up to knocks on his door. __ust a minute!_ he said out loud. ____ coming!__e got up and straightened himself as he opened the door.__esi!_ he said, overcome with emotion.He held her and never let go.

Manuel acquired as much land as he could afford and refused to sell it to anyone, even if he was not planting anything on it. __a tierra no se acaba_ (__he land does not perish_), he often said.

All Americans were immigrants at one point or another,_ he explained in his letters to his parents. Even his father Manuel migrated to Puerto Rico. Manuel was deemed a Peninsular, an immigrant from Spain, and sometimes even the Puerto Rican-born, the criollos, resented the Spanish-born newcomers. Manuel was familiar with being singled out, although not quite as much as Antonio felt while in New York. __t is amazing how people tend to forget their past,_ Antonio wrote to his parents, surprised. __ recall what you told me about Maestro Rafael, Papá, when he said to you __ever forget your history.

Antonio looked down, silent, as Shillitoni kept talking. There he was, among cold-blooded killers, talking to a gangster. A much different picture than a year prior.__an__ trust priests, can__ trust cops either. Can__ trust nobody! Whaddaya say?___ am not like you,_ Antonio said. ____ not like them, either. That__ what I say. I am not a cold-blooded killer!___a killed, you a killa! There__ not__g more to it!_ Shillitoni said.

Her heart now pounding, a strange feeling of combined fear and happiness invaded her. She took a deep breath. Her lungs filled with fresh air. An invigorating rush of electricity all over her body overcame her. __o, is this how falling in love feels?_ she thought.She knew the answer.

It__ over,_ said Carmona to the town__ men at the casa alcaldía (city hall). __ord is that the United States Flag is waving in Guánica, Coamo and at El Morro and San Cristóbal Castles in San Juan. Puerto Rico is now United States territory.___nother transition!_ Manuel sighed. __hat will this bring?

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense. - Sixth Amendment, United States Constitution

Manuel adapted well to the Puerto Rican culture and its African and Taíno Indian influences, which permeated into the local language. Taíno words such as tabaco (tobacco), barbacoa (barbecue), canoa (canoe), and hamaca (hammock) remain in use today in Spanish, English and other world languages. Also, the word cigar or cigarro is derived from the Taíno word sik__r, a Taíno gathering or festival where tobacco played a main role.

SHE RESEARCHED WHEN everyone slept. In the dead silence, her mind worked with more clarity. No interruptions, no worries. Sometimes she even imagined that her ancestors guided her. That they reached out from the past to share their stories. __ocus Pocus!_ she thought, smiling. Her inside joke was a source of inspiration. But her imagination was not far-fetched.My second cousin, twice removed, is a family historian. She is also a lawyer. And this is why I chose her. I needed her to do me a favor. I chose her, although she is a business lawyer and not a criminal lawyer. That was fine by me. It__ not like my lawyers did a superb job at defending me. I was wrongfully executed.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. - Eighth Amendment, United States Constitution

ANTONIO PONT_N__ TRIAL made front page headlines across major newspapers. On April 17, 1915, the Schenectady Gazette headline read, __rial of Ponton on the Charge of Committing one of Most Startling Murders in History of County.