Legal Flap Brews in Illinois Over Noose

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Folks in this hardscrabble town still cling to the legend of Charlie Birger, the bootlegging gangster who moments before meeting his maker on the gallows flippantly remarked how lovely the world was. Nearly eight decades later, the noose used in Illinois' last public hanging has taken on an ugly life of its own. Rebecca Cocke, granddaughter of the sheriff who supervised the 1928 execution, says the rope is a family heirloom her mother lent to the downtown jail museum 10 years ago. With her mother now suffering from Alzheimer's disease, Cocke - her legal guardian - is suing to get the rope back. A judge to determine whether it belongs to the county because Pritchard was on its payroll or the granddaughters. Talk about twisted news, I personally wouldn't want a noose that was used to kill someone around me, talk about bad karma. The rope however has a very storied past to go with it. I would hate to be the judge on this case.