Thursday, September 26, 2002

THE MYSTERY OF THE OLIVE SOLVED!

On Wednesday, Ohio executed one Robert Buell. His last meal of a single black, unpitted olive. Prison officials researched, but failed to find, any significance in the request.

It seems Buell was a student of last meal history....




Victor Ferguer, the last prisoner executed by the federal government until Timothy McVeigh in 2001, was hanged in 1963.

His last meal--an olive with the pit still in it.

He told prison officials that he hoped it would sprout from his body an olive tree -- a sign of peace.

Feguer's body was unclaimed by family and was quickly taken away by a funeral home after the execution and buried.

His unmarked grave in a barren corner of a public cemetery bears no olive tree.