Evening star., 1953-12-18
Gas Kills Hall and Mrs. Heody,
Silent to Last on Ransom
GreenIeose Kidnopers'
Spend Final Moments
Talking Together
sy the Asseelated Press

JEFFERSON CITY. Mo-. Dec.
18.-Carl Austin Hall and Mrs.
Bonnie Brown Heady died to-
gether in the gas chamber early
today for the kidnap slay-
ing of 6-year-old Bobby Green
lease.
The notorious pair refused a
final official request for a state
ment which might have shed
light on what happened to halt
the record 100000 collected
from the multimillionaire father
of the child they stole and
murdered last September %.
Instead they spent their last
minutes in brief conversation
and farewell embrace. shared a
final cigarette, bade their Mis-
souri, prison guards goodbye, and
died side by side amid swirls of
cyanide gas.
Mrs. Heady Manages Jest.
Mrs Heady. Al, plump and
dark-haired, mustered a parting
jest at the leather straps that
bound her to the death chair.
Her 34-year-old wastrel lover
had words for none but her after
both had prayed with two min
listers who attended the midnight
execution.
Hall died first, breathing in
the poison fumes as if eager to
end wasted life. His death was
recorded at 1:12 am. (EST.)
Mrs Heady seemed reluctant.
She appeared to hold her breath.
Although she was unconscious
after the first sniff. her lungs
labored for 2 minutes and 10
seconds after Halls body had
slumped motionless.
Time Unusually Long.
DR.. G. Donald Shull, a prison
physician, commented that her
breathing lasted longer than any
person he had ever seen die in
the gas chamber. No other wom-
an has ever been so executed in
this State.
The killers final conversation
it lasted about 10 minutes
was in small detention cell just
off the gas chamber. With them
was United States Marshal Will
liam B. Tatman. The pair were
not visible to the official wit
nesseS as they sat side by side on
a cot in this cell.
AS he stepped out of this cell
to Chamber into the death cham
ber, Halls lips were redeemed as
If with lipstick. Tatman, after
the execution, confirmed the two
had given each other a final en-
brace and kiss.
Hall was putting on a cigarette
just before they were blindfolded.
He passed it to Mrs. Heady, who
took a final puff.
Tatman stepped into the gas
chamber with the two. After
guards had blindfolded them
and strapped them to the chairs,
the marshal asked: Have you
anything to tell me?"
Witnesses sensed in this ques-
ton last effort to find out if
either knew what had happened
to more than 100000 of the
ransom money they collected in
Kansas City on October and
which was missing when they
were captured in st. Louis on
October 6.
Both shook their heads in the
negative and Mrs. Heady said
aloud: mo"
AS the death-chair strap was
being frightened about her chest,
Mrs. Heady, with a little chuckle,
told the guards:
tits tight-I'm not going any
where"
Then she called out to Hall:
Are you doing all right,
honey?"
Yes, mama" Hall replied.
Quiet Rules in Prison.
The prison was quiet as the
notorious pair went to their
deaths. Seven-degree cold kept
the crowd outside the prison at
a minimum.
AS the official witnesses walked
through the darkness of the
prison courtyard, Christmas dec
orationS made by convicts spar
kled on the trees and bushes.
Elaborate security precautions
had been made, with extra
guards and highway patrolmen
brought in for the execution. But
the extra men were not needed.
There was no outburst from the
$500 convicts.