The execution by gas chamber of Joe Arridy took place in Cañon City, Colorado.

Warden Roy Best asked Joe what he wanted to eat for his last meal. ‘Ice cream’ he answered. The warden ordered that Joe should have ice cream with all three meals. Joe started with a breakfast that consisted only of ice cream. The warden, who had a fearsome reputation for using physical punishment instead of solitary confinement, and for requiring inmates to cross their arms when they moved from one place to another within his prison, had developed an almost paternal relationship with Arridy, even gifting him a toy train that would become his favourite pastime.

Governor Ammons announced that he was still pondering the Arridy situation. The battery for the headlight on Joe’s toy train had burned out. The warden went downtown and purchased a new battery and put it in Joe’s locomotive. Arridy was known to wind up and send his train down the cellblock. When it would crash, another prisoner would wind it up and send it back to him.

The warden planned a surprise for Joe by arranging for his mother, Mary Arridy, to come for a visit. Joe’s father had died 11 months earlier. Mrs Arridy and three others arrived in the late morning. As soon as she exited the car, she began to moan. Reporter Jack Carberry described the meeting ² :

‘His dull, bewildered silence turned a meeting with his mother into a strange frightening interlude, much more awesome to observers than if he had just broken down and wept. It was only the second time Mrs Arridy had visited Joe since he was taken to the penitentiary. With her were her daughter, Amelia Arridy aged 14, Joe’s aunt Mrs Helen Marguerite; and a cousin, Christine Marguerite also 14. The moment Mrs Arridy saw her son she burst into tears. “My Joe!” she exclaimed, “My Joe!”. She threw her arms around him and would have fallen on her knees in front of him, had he not awkwardly supported her. “Hello”, he muttered turning his face towards a wall. His eyes were not even damp. For more than fifteen minutes the group sat in the room, and during all the time, there was not a sound except for the sobbing of Mrs Arridy. Joe made no effort to speak, and his relatives just looked at him. His expression changed only when a group of trusties [inmates entrusted with prison jobs in return for privileges] walked in the room with the meal that had been ordered for Joe and his visitors. There was a slight smile when he saw the three-gallon ice-cream freezer’.

When the warden said it was time to end the visit, Mrs Arridy began to cry. Joe showed no emotion as his family all hugged and kissed him goodbye. As they left the room, Mary started to scream. The shrieking could be heard throughout the prison and it didn’t stop until she was placed back in the Sherriff’s car. Joe immediately went back to his cell. He filled the rest of his day busily playing with his toy train. The chaplain came in to help him practice the ‘Our Father’ (two words at a time so he could repeat the sacrament) and rosary, and sometimes the warden dropped in. Then it was back to the train. Shortly after 5:00 pm the warden received a call from the Colorado Supreme Court. They had just come together in a special session to consider a petition from Joe’s attorney to decide whether Joe was sane or insane, whether he knew right from wrong, whether he lived or died. At 6:00 pm the warden received a call from Governor Ammons who ordered that the execution be held up until the Supreme Court made a decision. At 6:15 pm the Supreme Court called. The court had voted 4-3 that the attorney’s petition be denied. Arridy lost by one vote. Governor Ammons called ten minutes later. He told the warden he would not grant clemency. He ordered the warden to carry out the execution.

Joe’s last meal was taken with Father Schaller. A bowl of ice cream. Then the last rites were given. When the priest finished, Joe returned to his train. Then the warden and chaplain came for Joe for the last time.

When questioned about his impending execution, Joe showed blank bewilderment. He did not understand the meaning of the gas chamber, telling the warden ‘No, no, Joe won’t die’.

Joe wanted to take his train with him but he had to be talked out of it. The warden suggested he say goodbye to his friends. Joe stepped in front of each cell and shook the inmates’ hands and smiled.

Then Joe, the authorised witnesses and the warden walked up the gravel road to the top of Woodpecker Hill, onto which every prison window fronted. When they reached the small bungalow building, Joe entered the backdoor while the witnesses assembled in front of its bay windows. According to the 7 January Chieftain ² :

‘The doomed youth was grinning as he entered the gas chamber and prison officials began preparing him for execution in a small room off the steel execution chamber. While Arridy’s prison-style blue shirt and pants were removed, Father Schaller and Arridy repeated the Lord’s Prayer once more – still just two words at a time. Arridy stepped into the gas chamber still grinning and immediately sat down in the second of the three chairs in the small room. He was clad in only a pair of white shorts and socks. The grin left his face when the black bandage was placed over his eyes. He seemed puzzled, but the grin returned when Warden Best took his hand and reassured him. The guards then proceeded to quickly strap him into the chair. His arms and legs were drawn tight to the steel chair, and a white belt was strapped across his chest and caught behind the chair. Then all the officials left the execution chamber except Father Schaller, who with tears in his eyes took Arridy’s hand and bid him goodbye’.

Then the priest left the gas chamber and the steel door was closed. Cyanide pellets were dropped into an acid, creating a toxic gas that would fill the airtight tank. At first there was silence, then a hiss of hydrogen cyanide which slowly asphyxiated Arridy. Inmate number 19845 had officially served his sentence.

Joe Arridy’s life is recounted here from his wonderful biography Deadly Innocence ⁴ by Robert Perske, a well-regarded advocate for vulnerable people. Arridy’s tragic Lebanese immigrant story was the not the same as Kahlil Gibran’s. The very opposite of the American dream, he was a victim of circumstances that destroyed instead of elevated his life. He was a gentle man with an intellectual disability. Wrongly convicted and executed for a crime he never could have begun to commit.

Yet on death row, his innocence somehow brought out the very best in others. He felt safe in the old Colorado State Penitentiary in Cañon City where he had regular meals and a warm bed. He received support and kindness from the wardens, guards and other inmates. The warden even told reporters repeatedly that ‘Joe Arridy is the happiest man who ever lived on death row’.