This week in 2001
“Invictus”
By William Ernest Henley
“…It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
— Timothy McVeigh, convicted on eleven charges including murder and use of a weapon of mass destruction, lethal injection, Indiana.
Executed June 11, 2001
McVeigh and two accomplices bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, using a rented truck and a homemade explosive device weighing several thousand pounds. They killed 168 people and injured hundreds more. “I’m sorry these people had to lose their lives,” McVeigh wrote to his hometown newspaper. “But that’s the nature of the beast. It’s understood going in what the human toll will be.” He did not deliver any final words but instead left behind the poem “Invictus,” written in 1875 by the British poet William Ernest Henley.
Invictus means “unconquerable” in Latin.
This week in 1998
“Lord Jesus Christ, son of Almighty God, [have] mercy on me as a sinner, forgive me of my sins. I would like to offer up my death for the conversion of sinners on Death Row. Lord Jesus, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
— Clifford Boggess, convicted of murder, lethal injection, Texas.
Executed June 11, 1998
Boggess, an artist and pianist, was also a clinical psychopath and a two-time murderer. His story, final days, and execution were covered extensively by Frontline reporter Alan Austin in the documentary “The Execution.” Before his death, Boggess wrote about his final moments and last words in a diary entry: “When the time of my execution is finally here, will I face death with strength and dignity, unwavering in my faith in God and in Jesus Christ as my savior? Will God strengthen me in that hour of need? Will the Spirit give me the words to say which will make the end of my earthly life a powerful witness for God’s son?”
This week in 1988
“I did pretty good until about five minutes ago. Now my nerves are gone.”
— Arthur Gary Bishop, convicted of murder, lethal injection, Utah.
Executed June 10, 1988
A former Eagle Scout, honor student, and Mormon missionary, Bishop was arrested for molesting and murdering five young boys over a five-year span. Bishop had lived with so much guilt for committing the crimes that after he was convicted he dismissed his lawyers to expedite his death sentence.
