DOCUMENT: Crime

The Last Man Uncle Sam Executed

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The Last Man Uncle Sam Executed

With Timothy McVeigh scheduled to die on May 16, you'll be seeing the name Victor Feguer popping up in news stories about the coming demise of the Oklahoma City bomber. That's because Feguer, convicted in 1961of murder and kidnapping, was the last federal inmate to be executed. He was killed in March 1963, hanged in a noose that set back the U.S. Government $28.75. Ten days before his death, Feguer was transferred from the Leavenworth federal penitentiary to an Iowa state prison since the feds did not then have the kind of "death chamber" that awaits McVeigh. What follows are some of the prison records maintained by the Iowa officials who killed Feguer at Uncle Sam's request. In light of the detailed protocol prepared for McVeigh's execution, the killing of Feguer seemed downright commonplace:

Page 1: Prisoner # 28105.

Page 2: The budget for an execution.

Page 3: President John F. Kennedy denies clemency.

Page 4: The inmate's personal property.

Pages 5-6: Plotting Feguer's final day.

Page 7: A last-minute telegram.

Page 8: Iowa doctors certify death.

Page 9: A "fractured cervical spinal column."

Page 10-11: The decedent's rap sheet.

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