Seven Days to Live (Details)
citation: The Saturday Evening Post, January 10, 1959, 231(28):32-33, 60-62
alias: Prison Legend
teaser: Did he really hope to escape a prison cell through a make-believe door?
summary: San Quentin's warden evaluates three requests from prisoners on Condemned Row. One, written in Spanish, is from Luis Perez, convicted of killing a grocer during a robbery, and sentenced to die in seven days. Perez requests oil paints, brushes, and other supplies for a mural to be painted on the wall of his cell. The warden knows Perez is a competent artist, and wonders why he's waited so long to request painting supplies. He grants the request.
Perez begins immediately. Other prisoners and the guards watch Perez' progress as he sketches his mural in charcoal. They see the sketch resolve into roughly cut wood boards, accurate to the finest detail. Before noon, it's clear the sketch is of a door.
Word of the mural reaches the warden, and spreads among the population. Disturbed by what Perez sketched, the warden visits him, watching Perez apply paint to his sketch. The warden leaves without comment.
Perez continues painting ceaselessly, producing an extraordinarily realistic, almost three-dimensional image. The warden visits Perez again, both to admire his work, and to fear it. He considers ordering the painting scrapped off the wall, but decides against it.
The warden's later informed Perez erected a blanket in his cell, concealing both the painting, and himself. Although concerned, the warden does not order the blanket removed.
Now, the night before the execution, the warden visits Perez in his cell. Perez does not want to be disturbed. Nevertheless, the warden stays, appreciating the image of what must be the door to Perez' home in Mexico, with a glimpse of a room behind it. The two men talk, then the warden informs Perez he must leave the cell tonight, relocating to another cell closer to the gas chamber.
Perez begs to remain in his cell until the execution, so he can finish the painting. When he promises to be no trouble the next morning, the warden relents.
When they come for Perez the next morning, Perez lingers, finishing his painting. As Perez leaves, the warden orders the cell locked, and no one allowed to enter until after the execution.
Just as the warden is checking the direct telephone line to the governor's office, he's ordered to stay the execution for one hour, while Chicago police interrogate a man arrested for a series of robberies. Perez is returned to his cell.
Within minutes, the governor calls back to say the man in Chicago confessed to the crime for which Perez was to be executed. The warden brings the news to Perez that his sentence is further stayed a month while details are confirmed. Perez is certain he will be pardoned and released before that time.
Perez shows the warden the painting, but it is now changed: The door is open.
words: 6,082
genre: None
similar: None
people: Unnamed warden, Luis Perez
places: San Quentin, CA: Condemned Row; Chicago, IL
comments: Forthcoming