At 6:52 p.m. on Nov. 1, 1955, United Airlines Flight 629 took off from Stapleton Airfield in Denver, Colo. Eleven minutes later the Douglas DC-6B disintegrated in the air and plunged into a sugar beet field near Longmont, Colo. All 44 people on board died.
A bomb, 17 pounds of dynamite with a timer, had exploded in passenger Daisie King’s luggage. It had been placed there by her son, John Gilbert “Jack” Graham. At check-in Mrs. King paid a $27 fine because the bags were overweight. She asked her son if she really needed all that much in her luggage. Cold as ice he had said, “Yes, mother, I’m sure you will need it.” Jack Gilbert then turned to his wife, gave her some money and told her to buy three life insurance policies on his mother’s flight.
There was ample evidence at the scene of the disaster that a bomb was involved. This bombing was the first major act of criminal violence against a U.S. airliner. Thirteen days later, the FBI arrested Jack Graham. He was convicted on May 5, 1956, and executed in the gas chamber of the Colorado State Penitentiary in CanyonCity on Jan. 11, 1957.
A silent witness to this case, its history, ramifications conclusion and aftermath was a very serious and impressionable 9-year-old girl living in Denver. I was that girl. (I do admit to being a bit of a strange child.) I read everything I could find about this crime. This was the first trial in the United States covered by television and I was witness to the investigation and trial.
At this time, the death penalty was a given and when Graham was found guilty and sentenced to execution I felt no moral ambiguity about the findings of the court. I continued to follow the Graham bombing up to the day of the execution.
That is when I had an epiphany. The execution did not make me feel better. I had assumed that it would change things: that the crime wouldn’t seem as frightening; the innocents wouldn’t be as dead; life wouldn’t seem so uncertain or death so arbitrary. I was naïve. I was wrong.
As young as I was, I started to become a person opposed to the death penalty.
This does not mean that there are not people who deserve death. There are wicked, evil, vile and unrepentantly criminal people in this world. Our current penal system does not change them and releases them too early and too often. These people, who are clearly more animal than human, promptly victimize innocents with no more remorse than a rattlesnake.
No, I am not opposed to the death penalty because I think those convicted of crimes are innocent. I am opposed to the death penalty because I do not want to become a party to their guilt. I do not want to sink to their level. If a criminal is incarcerated, they should no longer be a threat to anyone. At that point there is no reason to execute them. Execution becomes simple revenge and it is not worthy of civilized people.
Did Jack Graham deserve to die? Yes. Does Melissa Lucio deserve to die? Perhaps she does; I don’t know. But I do know this, any justice that is served by their death is equally served by their irrevocable incarceration. There must be some choice short of making society an instrument of violence.
Find a better way, and keep the faith.
Louise Butler is a retired educator and published author who lives in Edinburg. She writes for The Monitor’s Board of Contributors.
