Execution Eve. William Buchanan

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      “This time, Bob went into a real rage,” Penny said. “He tore that office to shreds trying to find where the old woman had hidden the money.”

      Unsuccessful, Anderson threw the bolt to the front door, Penney said, ran to the car, and returned with two pistols. He handed one of the guns to Penney, then grabbed an iron counterweight lying loose beneath one of the windows. Anderson rushed up the stairs and Penny followed, knocking over a floor lamp at the head of the landing. When they reached the apartment door, it was locked.

      “Bob began beating the door with the iron bar. When it splintered open, there was a woman standing just inside in her nightgown. Bob grabbed her and demanded to know where the money was hidden. Before she could answer . . . he shot her.”

      Just at that moment, Penney testified, someone grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. A fist slammed into his face and he fell to the floor.

      Stunned, Penney said he glanced up to see Anderson shoot the unexpected second person, a younger woman, in the back. The young woman took a single step toward Anderson, then collapsed. “Bob reached down and shot her in the top of the head.”

      The older woman, who had watched her daughter being shot, was still alive. “Bob began to pistol-whip her, demanding money. She pleaded with him to stop. She said all the money she had was in a sack in her dresser.”

      Anderson kicked the woman back to her bedroom, Penney said, then ransacked the dresser until he found the sack.

      “How much money did it contain?” the prosecutor asked.

      “A hundred and forty dollars,” Penney replied.

      They tore the place apart, Penney said, but didn’t find another cent.

      The older woman had collapsed and didn’t seem to be breathing. Convinced that both women were dead, Penney testified, he and Anderson fled the clubhouse.

      “Bob ordered me to drive. When we got to the gate we spotted another car pulling out of the club driveway just ahead of us. Bob began to cuss. He was afraid the driver might have spotted the Buick. We drove back to Louisville and buried the sack and the guns in the park. Then Bob gave me some money and told me to high-tail it out of the state with the car.”

      “Where did you go?” the prosecutor asked.

      “Florida,” Penney replied. Then, after a couple of days, he headed for Texas. He didn’t know that the day he left Louisville, Anderson reported his car stolen.

      On October 9 Penney was captured in Fort Worth.

      It was damning testimony and the prosecuting attorney was determined to set the most damaging points in the juror’s minds.

      He asked, “Once again, who was armed with the thirty-two pistol?”

      “Anderson,” Penney replied.

      “He shot the two women?”

      “Yes.”

      “Why did he begin shooting?”

      “To keep the old woman from screaming.”

      The prosecution rested.

      Unlike Penney and Baxter, whose indigence compelled them to trust their fates to court-appointed attorneys, Anderson hired one of the most prestigious legal firms in Louisville. To discredit the state’s star witness, Anderson’s attorneys laid Penney’s sordid history of arrests, convictions, and tainted prison record before the jury. Then they turned to a specific attack on his testimony.

      Defense: Why did you say in Fort Worth that Anderson was your only accomplice, then once back in Lexington change your story and say that Baxter was your accomplice?

      Penney: Baxter was an accomplice.

      Defense: Isn’t it true that Baxter was your only accomplice?

      Penney: No. Baxter wasn’t even in the clubhouse. Anderson was with me.

      Defense: Did you make a deal with the prosecution?

      Penney: No.

      Defense: Isn’t it true that you agreed to testify against Anderson in exchange for a life sentence?

      Penney: No.

      Defense: Do you hope for a life sentence?

      Penney: No, no hope. Most likely I’ll burn.

      Taken aback by this response, the defense changed the line of questioning.

      Defense: Isn’t it true that on September twenty-third, five days before the murders, you had a heated argument with Bob Anderson over a business deal?

      Penney: Yes.

      Defense: And you swore to get even.

      Penney: Yes.

      Defense: And naming him as your accomplice in this crime is your way of getting even, isn’t it?

      Penney: No. He was my accomplice.

      Defense: Isn’t it true that on the night before the crime you went to Mister Anderson’s place of business and stole his car to use in the crime?

      Penney: No, it’s not true.

      Throughout the cross-examination, Penney stuck to his story. Then Baxter took the stand and corroborated Penney’s testimony in detail.

      On re-direct, Prosecutor Park suggested that by reporting his Buick stolen, Anderson was using a ploy to cover up the fact of its disappearance. As for the witnesses who saw Anderson in The Cat and Fiddle on the night of the murders, the latest sighting was at 10:30 P.M., leaving ample time for him to have met Penney at 11:00 P.M. as Penney testified.

      Unlike the juries for Penney and Baxter, who reached guilty verdicts in minutes, Anderson’s jury deliberated for twenty-four hours. At last, persuaded by Penney’s testimony and Baxter’s corroboration, they returned a verdict of guilty.

      Sentenced to die in the electric chair, the three men were transferred to the state penitentiary in Eddyville.

      Anderson’s conviction was not hailed universally. News accounts reported a widespread feeling that the trial revealed a conspiracy to convict Anderson regardless of the law and the evidence. Nonetheless, the Court of Appeals upheld the sentences. The executions were scheduled for shortly after midnight, New Year’s Day, 1943.

      Around the country and in Europe, Marion Miley’s friends and mourners were satisfied. In Lexington, the police blotter was closed on the case.

      Then, a bizarre turn of events transformed the cut-and-dried case into a cause célèbre.

      During the year immediately following his capture, Tom Penney underwent an extraordinary transformation. At the urging of two nuns who visited him in the Lexington jail before and during the trials, he began to СКАЧАТЬ