DIES BEFORE FIRING SQUAD.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 75, 29 March 1928, Page 11

DIES BEFORE FIRING SQUAD.

FIRST EXECUTION FAILS.

DRAGGED FROM BED AND SHOT.

MEXICO CITY, February 11. | There may be some Mexican firing squads that cannot shoot straight, but that does not apply to all of them. Ernesto Villarreal, accused of various common crimes, was taken from bed in Atlatlahuca in the State of Morelos, where he was suffering from typhoid fever, by police, who convened a firing squad at Cuautla. Just before the squad performed its duty Villarreal told the corporal that he could give him information relative to other members of the criminal band to which he belonged, whereupon the corporal became impatient, declaring that he could take sufficient testimony when Villarreal was "two metres under ground," and gave the command to fire. Villarreal dropped along the railroad tracks and the coup de grace was applied.

But the "dead" man returned to life and was removed to a hospital at Chalco. Friends immediately set about trying to obtain a pardon for him, but the police heard that their work had not been effective, so they dragged Villarreal from the hospital again, and this time a squad of efficient sharpshooters performed their task.