October 5, 1989


The shadows draw over Ellinston signalling dusk today. It is 9:30 pm, and, in exactly three hours, authorities will inject a fatal combination of chemicals into the bloodstream of Joe Wolfe, thereby ending his life. The case of Mr. Wolfe has been a sensational one, polarizing inhabitants of Ellinston since the disappearances of siblings Tiffany and Wilberforce Hogg almost 2 years ago today.




Many see the death of Wolfe as long overdue recompense for the murder of the Hogg siblings just 24 hours apart. Although their bodies have never been recovered, that Wolfe was the person last seen with both strikes many in the community as more than simple coincidence. Many others, however, just see his sentence as the result of being from the wrong side of the tracks. Wolfe has steadfastly maintained his innocence despite the avalanche of evidence to the contrary.




Court transcripts reveal that someone appearing to be Wolfe was seen exiting the home of Wilberforce on a rainy Thursday night 2 years ago. The witness, a senior citizen named Malachi Mouse, admitted to not being certain it was Wolfe he'd seen due to the inclement weather and the darkness of the hour. After Wilberforce and Tiffany failed to show up at the Ellinston Clubhouse for their role as auctioneers at the Clubhouse's annual charity event the next Friday, family members alerted authorities. Their homes were found ransacked and partially destroyed, but little physical evidence was retrieved, and the Hoggs were never seen again.




A former busboy at the clubhouse who'd begun to make steady money from his knack for day trading, what linked Wolfe to the case and made him a prime suspect was the public threat he'd made to them only a week prior to the disappearances. He admitted that he'd become angry when Tiffany had refused his request to visit his home to give him her expert opinion as a decorator about the new, commercial-sized oven he'd recently installed. He yelled at her there in the public library (where he checked out several cookbooks) that he would "have you and your fat family for lunch one of these days! Just who do you think you are?"




Wolfe's attorneys and family insist that his execution would be a travesty and are disappointed that their attempts at an appeal all seem to have failed. They say that his outburst was taken out of context and that he'd been offended and only meant that he'd eventually win over the notoriously snobbish Hoggs and have them as lunch guests. "If my Joey had been a blueblood like themselves, he'd never be faced with this situation. He's being treated unjustly simply because he's not old money and doesn't have the connections the Hoggs and their lot have" sobbed Wolfe's mother, Irma Wolfe. "They can only see him as the busboy who hung out in front of the local pub after work with his friends and got up to the usual petty mischief of kids nowadays. Sure, he egged a few fancy cars in his youth. But, he's not a killer!"




Within hours, all these arguments will be moot as there is no further chance for reprieve for
Wolfe. Savage killer or misunderstood canine, Joseph Wolfe will be no more.