Trial by Fire

     The fire spread from the O’Learys’ barn to the yards nearby. Soon it was spreading throughout the neighborhood. William Lee, a neighbor a block away, saw the fire and ran to Bruno Goll’s drugstore to turn in the fire alarm. Bruno Goll refused to turn in the alarm because he said the fire truck had already gone past. So instead of arguing, Lee went home to his family. At the courthouse the lookout on duty saw smoke, but thought nothing of it, thinking it was just Saturday's fire and there was no reason to be alarmed. Then he looked up and noticed it was a different fire and had his assistant strike the Box 342 for the fire department. Soon fire trucks were at the scene and attempted to put out the fire. The fire department’s Chief Marshal, Robert A. Williams got the engines to circle the fire to contain it. They got as close to the fire as they could until their arm hair was being burned and their

There are many causes that can contribute to a wrongful conviction. Witness misidentification is the most common cause; we know that the human mind is not like a tape recorder, and can make mistakes. Forensic analysts presenting evidence that has little or no scientific basis, false confessions by suspects during the interrogation process, government officials taking steps to ensure that a suspect is convicted despite poor evidence, testimony by people with incentives to testify, and poorly prepared lawyers are just some of the other causes that can result in a wrongful conviction. The death penalty case of Cameron Todd Willingham, of Corsicana, Texas, is one that experts now agree that the evidence proves he was wrongfully convicted. But unfortunately, he was already put to death by lethal injection.

This tragic fire demonstrated how the fire inspections and precautions were noticeably lacking safety for these workers even though “a little more than five months before the tragedy Firemen Edward F. O’Conner made a routine inspection and said the Asch Building was ‘good’ and the building was ‘fireproof’”(28). The fire finally died down with over one hundred dead bodies piled along the streets. Sunday morning “thousands of people began to form into a slowly moving parade around the city blocks”(89). The people were walking in honor of these workers and would go around trying to identify the bodies and confiscate any items the bodies my have possessed for reminiscences. On the other hand, the departments felt immediate quilt for not stepping in to fix the Asch building before, because the departments knew of the horrible safety and health precautions the Asch building had but nobody emphasized the problems. “But who was to blame?” (113). Chief Croker was quick to blame

At 10 pm Figgs was got up by his neighbor, he saw the fire was coming into his house.

A small family of four, living in the Tory town of Redding. Life was great Mr. and Mrs. Meeker owned a small tavern that supplies their town with food, rum, and supplies. Their son Timmy helped around the tavern and did chores, because his older brother Sam was off at college. Everyone in Redding was close and knew the Meeker family, they all admired how they had raised Sam and Timmy. Every year after college was over, Sam would come home and visit, except one.

Tom Walker sat at his bedside feeling rather melancholy for he had not much to do but be chided at by his notorious witch of a wife. They both lived in their humble abode of an apartment in the middle of a city but they had a sublime view that overlooked the scenery of the domicile's dumpsters. They lived poorly, just barely getting by to afford a couple gallons of gas. Tom grew a hatred for almost everyone around and had only a handful of “friends”, he believed that money was the most valuable and important thing in his life.

On this particular spring day, it all seemed like a normal Wednesday morning for the individuals that lived in Oklahoma City. Little did they, as well as the country, know what terror and fright was about to strike. It all began

“They were trying to get under the foam, but to no avail," he said. "They were human torches." The fire quickly spread eastward along Avenue “Y” towards 5th Street. Viewing the unfolding horror before him, Commissioner Rizzo ordered two more alarms, five additional rescue squads, and the recall of all companies which had previously been released from the fire grounds throughout the day. On these orders the fire alarm room transmitted the seventh and eighth alarms. As the fire had been placed under control nearly eight hours earlier, firefighters in stations across the city knew that the unthinkable had occurred as these additional

He opened a savings account for himself and deposited all of the money he had, except for the correct amount to pay change to Mr. Greyson, whom he owed from a shine the prior day. In paying his debt to Mr. Greyson, he earned his trust and bought himself an invitation to Sunday school and eventually lunch with the gentleman and his family. This was the start to Dick’s better life of saving his money, renting his own room, and meeting Fosdick, his new friend and private tutor. One day he ran an errand with Fosdick for his employer and the two rode the ferry when they witnessed a young boy, the age of 6, fall of the edge of the boat and into the water. Dick, not hearing the father’s offer of a reward for anyone who would save his son, dove in to save the boy anyhow. Once the boy had been returned safely to his father, the father was so grateful to Dick that he took him to have his wet suit dried and provided him with a suit nicer than his original suit from Frank. Dick then went in to speak with the man, as per his request, and was offered a position in his counting room with a wage of ten dollars per week, considerably higher than his wage would be at any other store or counting room. Dick gleefully accepted his offer and lived content knowing how hard he had worked for this day.

Trial by hot Iron was one way to determine innocence in the Middle Ages, you had to undergo this trial to prove your innocence. In this trial the defendant would have to carry an iron that weighed one pound, after it was heated over fire and pulled out during a ritual prayer. He or she would carry the hot iron metal for 9 feet, measured by the own defendants foot size. Their hands are strapped at the end of the 9 feet. Then they would be examined after 3 days by a Priest.They were considered guilty if there hands weren't showing any progress of healing. If there hands were showing progress of healing he or she is innocent .If the crime of the accused was particularly bad such as betrayal of a Lord or murder the iron would be 3 pounds. In the

Firefighters were dispatched to the residence after receiving a 6:15 a.m. call from Rogers, who reported the home she shared with her husband, Volley Rogers, was on fire, said Haun, noting that by the time they arrived it was apparent she did not make it out of the house.

In 2004, a Texas man named Cameron Todd Willingham was executed for murdering his three young daughters by setting his house on fire. This conviction was based on faulty forensic science which assumed that the fire was caused by arson. There multiple fire science experts who reviewed the case and became opposed to Willingham’s execution stating there was no evidence to prove that the fire was intentionally set. In 2010, the Texas Forensic Science Commission released a report admitting that Willingham’s conviction was based on “flawed science”. One of the witnesses during the trial who was an inmate at the same prison as Willingham testified that Willingham confessed to the killing while in jail but later on recanted his statements. Willingham’s

"Two months after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, one abolitionist wrote that 'to make the proclamation a success, we must make freedom a blessing to the freed.' The question of how to do so would long outlive Lincoln and the Civil War" (Epilogue, p. 361).

On November 2, 2000 Erma Stewart was arrested along with twenty six others because authorities were under the suspicion that they had been involved with the distribution of an illegal substance. Stewart was jailed and had her bond set to $70,000. She was then appointed a public defender to handle her case. However, Stewart claims that the attorney pressured her into pleading guilty despite her insistence that she was innocent. After spending a month in jail with the knowledge that her children had no to look after them, due to her being a single parent, Stewart conceded and plead guilty to the charges. She was made to pay a fine of $1,000 and was sentenced to 10 years of probation.

On March 6, 2016, 60 Minutes aired the interview of Bill Whitaker with Texas inmates, whom have all been sentenced to death. They had all claimed to having certain emotions towards their sentence, each person’s being different. Specifically they all claimed to have regret of their actions and only find themselves guilty, except for one. One of the interviewees, Elvis Wesbrook, finds his ex-wife guilty for the killings of the five people. Specifically, he said his ex-wife had invited him to a party where he felt threatened. She was having sex with another man which led him to kill all five people there; “I’m a victim in this as well as everybody else.” Although some people believe that he isn’t a victim in any way and should be punished, Wesbrook