Willie Francis

At the age of 16 Willie Francis became the first incident of a failed execution by electrocution in the United States. On murdering his employer – a pharmacy owner – Francis was convicted and sentenced to death by the electric chair. On administering a lethal surge of electricity, witnesses report that they had heard the boy scream “Take it off! Take it off! Let me breathe! “. Another report claimed him saying “I’m n-not dying!” The executioners were left flabbergasted. It was later discovered that the electric chair failed to kill Willie Francis because it was improperly set up by a prison guard who was drunk at the time.

So Willie was allowed to live but only for a year, after which he was executed on another electrical chair which was not set up by a drunk.