In a message dated 12/6/03 1:27:46 PM Central Standard Time, cajun@thecajuns.com writes: > The men > had initially been sentenced to death by hanging but O'Reilly agreed to > the firing squad. > > I was said that the reason the men were executed by firing squad was that the executioner or Hangman refused to hang the prominent white planters either out of respect of for fear of reprisals. Therefore O'Reilly had them executed by firing squad. A more noble death. Don