When Gary Gilmore faced his executioners one cold morning in 1977, there was a serious, anxious, bearded reporter-type standing only a few feet away. Before the hood was placed over Gilmore's head, the man walked over to the chair, and took both of the killer's hands into his own. 'I don't know why I'm here,' he said. Gilmore looked up, and replied sweetly: 'You're going to help me escape.'

LRB 14 December 1995 | PDF Download