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Behind the Wall
(Non-Fiction by
Jack)
Conversation with a Bank Robber
I was a bank robber, because that's where all
the money is. I always worked alone. I would go in and grab the manager and
go behind the teller cages. The longest I would stay in the bank was three
minutes.
"Were you armed?"
"Yeah, but there was only one time there was any shooting
when I robbed this bank in a strip mall in front of a sub-division. When I
came out, there were two policemen. I was parked behind the grocery store
next door. I started running. One cop yelled, "Stop or I'll shoot!" I ducked
around the side of the store and ran back to where my car was parked and
threw the money in the back seat. It was my car, but it had stolen plates.
One cop ran after me while the other one tried to block me in with the squad
car. The one was an expert marksman and had a long barrel thirty-eight with
a big old thumb rest on the side. He only fired two shots because he was
conscientious about the sub-division behind us and didn't want to hurt
anyone. His first shot took out the back window and lodged in the dash. The
next one went through the tire as I was turning on to the highway. It almost
made the steering wheel jerk out of my hands, but I got it under control. I
had a girlfriend that lived real close and I put the car in her garage. I
always tried to get the car off the road within five minutes and just wait
until the heat cooled down. I took the car to a friend and we patched it up
and sold it. I bought a Buick Riviera.
"What was the most you ever got from a bank?"
"$27,000"
"Hell, today you would make more by stealing the car! They
cost more than that!"
(Non-Fiction by
Jack)
I had second roof and yard check with COI (Correctional
Officer I) Meeks. I told Capt. Lloyd that I had never been inside the gas
chamber. He said, "You’ve got second yard check and will be down there
anyway. Draw the keys and go."
When we got there, we didn't know which door to go in. We
went in the witness room first, with it's small bleacher set up for press
and visitors. We eventually got into the room that accessed the death
chamber. The bed in the holding cell was made and waiting. The chamber
itself resembled a boiler, but with windows. Side by side were two metal
chairs. The seats had small holes in them to allow for the free flow of gas
from the earthen crocks below. There were metal leg holders, looking like
cans split lengthwise which, no doubt, were used with straps. There was an
adjustable head rest, much like that of a dentist's chair. Overhead was an
adjustable round mirror. Everything was painted battleship gray.
Outside the chamber, the rotting rubber gasket sagged
beneath the door. There were six wheels, three on each side of the door,
used to tighten and seal it. I sat in both chairs. The metal was cold. I
thought of the thirty + people who sat here before me. Their pictures hang
on the wall. Back at the Captain's shack, I asked Lloyd if they put a hood
over their heads before they gassed them. He said, "I honestly don't know,
but I would think so." Someone else said, "Probably. They puke their lungs
out." Someone else said, "Yeah, but even with a hood, the witnesses would
still see all the puke running down the front of them." I don't know. Maybe
that is why they have shades on all the windows of the gas chamber.
E-mail Jack
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