The following account of a murderer's spiritual redemption is from Life magazine, 3 April 1950:

"In Charleston, West Virginia, one night last July two men who had been drinking heavily all day suddenly knocked down a perfect stranger and, holding back the crowd with a knife, took turns senselessly stomping him to death. Last month one of the men, 26-year-old Harry Burdette, a professional pool-hall gambler, whose electrocution is scheduled for April 14, asked a minister to baptize him. Guarded by the sheriff and 10 deputies armed with shotguns, he was escorted to a nearby creek. While a crowd of 1,500 lined the bank to watch, two ministers of the Free Salvation Baptist church lowered him into the icy water. 'I am now prepared to die,' said Burdette, who had meanwhile converted seven fellow prisoners."