#joe arridy

[expelharm]

Thinking about the happiest person on death row, Joe Arridy.

[catboywhimsy]

Joe Arridy was a man in the wrong place at the wrong time. A 23 year old with an IQ of 46 and a mental age of 6. An innocent man. Joe Arridy was found wandering around railyards in Cheyenne, Wyoming and arrested, likely for trespassing. However, there was an investigation for a rape/axe murder in Pueblo Colorado. Coincidentally, Joe happened to pass through Pueblo on his way to Cheyenne. Although a man named Frank Aguilar was already arrested on suspicion of the crime, Joe was coerced into saying that he had committed the crime and that he was with 'a man named Frank' in Pueblo. Joe gave multiple versions of how the murder played out, possibly thinking he was telling a story. During his 'confession', he was told things such as "an axe was used" and he corrected himself to fit to the crime. Joe Arridy was a favorite around the prison. He had a toy train which he passed around the prison, laughing as the other inmates acted out train wrecks and rescues for him. It was believed that he had no idea what was really going on. As a child he was sent to a mental institution and was sexually abused by other people, but newspapers said that he let the abuse happen and wanted it to happen, calling him a sick pervert. Although there were many, many attempts to save Joe, he ended up playing out his death sentence. He gave away his possessions to other inmates as he made his way to the gas chamber. Joe didn't know what was happening. He smiled as he was strapped into the chair, clueless about what was to happen. His wrongful death was given a pardon, 72 years later. Joe's sad story inspired many people, and in the prison graveyard, Joe Arridy is the only person with a gravestone, as people raised money because they believed he deserved more than a cheap, engraved metal plate.

[morbidology]

Joe Arridy, 21, who had an I.Q. of 46 and behaved more like a child than an adult, confessed to the 1936 rape and axe murder of 15-year-old Dorothy Drain in Pueblo, Colorado. He spent most of his life at the Colorado State Home and Training School for Mental Defectives; he couldn’t even count to five or tell the difference between red and blue. He was picked up by police after wandering around rail yards in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and was thrown into the centre of the investigation of the slayings.

After an intensive interrogation, Arridy was led into a false confession. He was found guilty despite the fact that there was no direct evidence that could tie him to the crime. In fact, they already had a prime suspect: Frank Aguilar. The murder weapon was even discovered in Aguilar’s home but after arresting Arridy and discovering he was from Pueblo, they zoned in on him. During the trial, Aguilar claimed that it was Arridy who killed Dorothy even though her sister, who survived the attack, pointed at Aguilar as their attacker. Both Arridy and Aguilar were sentenced to die in the gas chamber. Arridy would become known as the happiest man ever to be on Death Row.

He had been given a toy train by prison warden, Roy Best, and on the 6th of January, 1939, he was led to the gas chamber with his toy train still in his hand. “A wreck! A wreck! Fix the wreck,” Arridy cried out with glee as he played with his train one last time, pretending to crash it into the cell door. He requested ice cream as his last meal and didn’t comprehend that he was about to die. He didn’t even understand the meaning of the gas chamber, telling the warden: “No, no, Joe won’t die…” He stepped into the gas chamber grinning like a little boy. 

In 2011, Arridy was granted a full and unconditional posthumous pardon. An overwhelming body of evidence indicated that he was innocent, including a coerced and false confession and the likelihood that Arridy wasn’t even in Pueblo at the time of the slaying.

[histonics]

Joe Arridy (right) gives his toy train to another inmate before he's taken to the gas chamber. Called by the warden "the happiest prisoner on death row", Joe Arridy had an IQ of 46, and enjoyed playing with his toy trains while incarcerated.

He was pardoned 72 years after his execution when it was proven he was not guilty of his accused crime due to being coerced into confessing guilt to rape and murder. He was 23 years old when he was executed on January 1939.

[diomedesss]

Near tears after reading Joe Arridy aka “Happiest Prisoner on Death Row” Wikipedia page…

He didn’t even understand that he was going to die :(

[unbfacts]

Joe Arridy, an intellectually disabled man with an IQ score of 46, was wrongfully executed in 1939 at age 23. During his time in prison, Arridy played with a toy train that was a gift from the prison warden, who called him "the happiest prisoner on death row." He gave his precious toy to another inmate before walking into the gas chamber smiling.

[morbidology]

The Happiest Man on Death Row 

Joe Arridy, 23, had an I.Q. of just 46. He was coerced into confessing to the 1936 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl, despite the fact that the murder weapon had been found in the home of another man who was identified as the killer by the victim’s sister who had also been attacked. Nevertheless, Arridy was found guilty and sentenced to death.

Unable to comprehend what was about to happen, Arridy smiled as he entered the gas chamber. In 2011, Arridy was granted a full and unconditional posthumous pardon.

[Read More]

[itsallpoe-ver]

The heart tugging story behind the wrongful execution of Joe Arridy (taken from story pick, written by Ananta Sharma)

Joe Arridy himself confessed to having raped and killed a school girl in his hometown Pueblo, Colorado. And that was that. The case was sealed, and Arridy was now a criminal on a death row. When they asked him about what he wanted for his last meal, he asked for ice cream. And when they asked him about his impending execution, he seemed baffled. Like an innocent tiny tot, perhaps, he would have shrugged a little, scrunched his nose a little, and would have tried to figure what they were talking about. As if he even could! That weirdo didn’t even get the essence when the word ‘gas chamber’ was mentioned to him. In the state of bewilderment, and carrying a childishly quirky confidence, all he could manage to say was, “No, no, Joe won’t die.” The prison warden Roy Best even tagged him as the “happiest man on death row”. He was a favourite of all, but to himself, his favourite companion was a toy train, given to him as a Christmas present by Warden Best. Eighteen months and seven days of his life in prison, he enjoyed thoroughly with his toy train. He would set off the train chugging through his bars of the cell onto the corridor. The other convicts on the death row would reach out to catch hold of the toy. They would create diversions, cause accidents, perform rescue operations, and after it all, they would send the train back to its lovable owner, Arridy, who all the while, would be giggling over the shenanigans of the train and his buddies. But, the play time was over now. A clueless Joe, gave up his toys, and was accompanied to the chamber by warden Best and Father Schaller. The crowd watched, as their bubbly buddy headed towards his dying spot. Before being taken in, he was made to strip to just his socks and shorts. And so close to breathing his last, he did a strange gesture. The weirdo smiled while the guards tied him to the chair. The warden, apparently, wanted to say a lot, but all he could do to convey his many emotions was pat Arridy’s hand. And then, they walked out of the chamber. Aged 23, on 6-January-1939, Arridy breathed his last. The reality is a little bit more hard-hitting than what might have appeared as an unusually repenting criminal who played with his toy train. With an IQ of 46, Joe Arridy had a mental age of a 6-year-old. A young American boy battling intellectual disability was arrested wandering near the railyards in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He was arrested for the crime that had happened in Pueblo. Upon inquiry, Arridy told the sheriff-in-charge that he had come via Pueblo. Prior to this, a man known by the name Frank Aguliar was already arrested as the prime suspect in Pueblo. At the time they had caught hold of Arridy, the sheriff-in-charge contacted the sheriff of Pueblo and claimed that Arridy had confessed several times to have been with a man named Frank. Arridy gave several versions of the murder. One time he told that a club was used as a weapon, but during the investigation, an axe was recovered from the crime scene. When this came to Arridy’s notice, he agreed to have used an axe. Arridy said a lot, but nothing quite made sense. Whatever he said, though, portrayed him as the criminal. There were also three psychiatrists who agreed that a man with such a poor intellect can’t identify wrong from right, and don’t really have enough brains to commit a crime with the intent of doing so. But, so what? It was a crime, right? And that’s what mattered. But no, there’s another leaf to the story. An important one. At no point of time during the entire trial, did Aguilar mentioned anything about Arridy. And even if Arridy was there, it was found that he did not commit the crime. (Aguilar was executed 2 years prior to Arridy’s execution). In all probability, Arridy himself didn’t know what the deal was about. He didn’t even understand what the death sentence was about! Even the sister of the victim, who too was hit but survived the coma, had identified Frank as the killer. Pueblo County District Attorney, French Taylor asked Barbara Drain (the little sister of Dorothy Drain- the victim), if she could identify the man in the courtroom. Barbara said, yes. She walked across the courtroom and pointed at Frank Aguilar. 4 years ago, in January of 2011, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, who was also a former district attorney, granted Arridy posthumous pardon. He took this decision following the research that showed that Arridy wasn’t likely in Pueblo when the crime took place, to begin with! The man who had walked into the chamber with a faith of a 6-year-old, died without even knowing why. But, what’s further saddening is that he was executed for what later on turned out to be a crime, that he was, in all probability, not even involved in.