Word: pineda
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...iron collar and a plunger just beneath. A powerful lever at the back of the chair tightens the collar, strangles the condemned, at the same time forcing the plunger into the back of his neck, dislocating the spine. It was this ingenious antique which Minister of Executions Francisco de Pineda prepared to operate last week with his accustomed deftness, but in very special circumstances...
...crime which demanded the operation occurred 16 years ago. At that time Minister of Executions Francisco de Pineda, then just an ordinary thief, with two friends, entered the farmhouse of Emilia Muniz Garcia, 63. Together they trussed her up, gagged and robbed her. The gag shoved Signora Garcia's false teeth down her throat. She choked, died...
Francisco de Pineda was captured, condemned to death. Ziolo Rodrignez Rabano, one of his accomplices, escaped to Florida. Because the then Minister of Executions had been released from jail "for faithful services rendered," Cuba at that time lacked an executioner. Francisco de Pineda eloquently argued his own qualifications for the position. He got the job, and his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment...
Searching for a human interest story, sentimental correspondents hurried to another part of the jail to interview executioner de Pineda, the condemned Rabano's onetime friend. They found him in his cell, nervously munching bread and onions...
Eight days later, his bravado gone, Minister of Executions de Pineda begged to see the warden...