Themed Set: Americana

American executions, and those glimpses of the larger American story attainable through them, have been a prominent feature on this site, from the guy who came over on the Mayflower to the guy who’s about to be a 2012 campaign issue, and all the many martyrs, patriots, traitors, and legends in between.

For all that, these data points each in isolation have never quite given us pause to survey the grand sweep of the American story, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free and all their varied carols.

The posts in these next few days are scarcely that country’s most memorable executions, but they are every inch American, the rack and ruin of gangster deaths for quintessential homo Americani from the 13 colonies to the postwar empire.


(cc) image from Beverly & Pack

On this day..