49 quotes found
“Antonios will was cursed. Not once, but twice.”
“Antonio’s will was cursed. Not once, but twice.”
“On Thanksgiving Day, during our family gathering, we pray you to have mercy on Antonio Pontn ”
“Dear Governor Whitman, Our father is not a simple criminal. He was harassed by more ideas than his mind could stand. ”
“Hundieron el Maine! said Manuel to his wife Etervina, as he read the newspaper on February 16, 1898. They sank the Maine!”
“Dear Governor Whitman, … Our father is not a simple criminal. … He was harassed by more ideas than his mind could stand. …”
“ANTONIO PONTNS TRIAL made front page headlines across major newspapers. On April 17, 1915, the Schenectady Gazette headline read, Trial of Ponton on the Charge of Committing one of Most Startling M...”
“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. - Eighth Amendment, United States Constitution”
“What to do now, Father? I am going to die like a killer, and I do not even remember killing.You can pray, my son. You are in the hands of God now, said the good priest.”
“What you are about to witness is a blot upon the civilization of the twentieth century."- Sing Sing Deputy Warden Spencer Miller, Addressing Antonio Pontns execution witnesses on January 7, 1916”
“The Porto Ricans at Harvard University believe that the crime was a horrible one and it should be punished, but death penalty would add to, and not detract from, its horrors, the Harvard students w...”
“The physiological effects of an electrocution are severe and painful. Besides launching the body into violent convulsions, the electrocution of a human being causes massive destruction throughout t...”
“There is always hope for a reprieve, my friend, Stielow said. You have to get the governor to pardon you if the courts fail on you. This is an unlikely thing, although possible. The last thing you ...”
“Antonio looked down, silent, as Shillitoni kept talking. There he was, among cold-blooded killers, talking to a gangster. A much different picture than a year prior.Cant trust priests, cant trust c...”
“The Death House back then was a self-contained unit, with its own hospital, kitchen, exercise yard and visiting room. The cells were inadequate, dark, and did not have proper sanitary facilities or...”
“In Sing Sing Prison, in a ghastly white room stands a chair. Its parts are heavy joinings of oak, riveted and screwed together; its strong legs fastened to the floor with teeth and claws of steel. ...”
“Pardon me for this resolution I know that this will be a disgrace that I bring to my people, but I cannot help it. Love is the blame for it. I go in peace ... pray for me ... good-bye all.”
“SHE RESEARCHED WHEN everyone slept. In the dead silence, her mind worked with more clarity. No interruptions, no worries. Sometimes she even imagined that her ancestors guided her. That they reache...”
“THEY CALLED HIM Ponce de Len because he acted as though he could conquer anything and anyone. He enchanted every young woman that came his way with piropos (pick-up lines) and clever sweet talk. H...”
“Manuel acquired as much land as he could afford and refused to sell it to anyone, even if he was not planting anything on it. La tierra no se acaba (the land does not perish), he often said.”
“Manuel adapted well to the Puerto Rican culture and its African and Tano Indian influences, which permeated into the local language. Tano words such as tabaco (tobacco), barbacoa (barbecue), canoa ...”
“And then there was natures music. The small frog the locals called coqu was a treasured new sound, a lullaby sung by the chanting Puerto Rican native species. Sometimes, while he lay in bed awake a...”
“Zape! (Shoo!) Go away, go away, espritu maligno (bad spirit)! they sang. Go back to where you came from!The festive musical celebration combined the prayers and songs with expressive dancing to the...”
