Themed Set: Americana
August 30th, 2011 Headsman
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.
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Aug. 30, 1867: Bridget Durgan
Aug. 31, 1900: William Black
(On or around) Sep. 1, 1863: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Sep. 2, 1772: Moses Paul
Sep. 3, 1875: Six at Judge Parker’s Fort Smith
Sep. 4, 1953: Earle Dennison
Sep. 5, 1924: Richard Birkes
Sep. 6, 1811: John Andrews
Sep. 7, 1768: Isaac Frasier
Sep. 8, 1999: Mark Gardner and Alan Willett
Sep. 9, 1861: William Scott, the Sleeping Sentinel (not executed)
Sep. 10, 1951: Eliseo Mares
Sep. 11, 1941: Eugene Johnson
Sep. 12, 1823: Abram Antoine
Sep. 13, 1916: Mary the elephant
Sep. 14, 1894: Enoch Davis
Sep. 15, 1922: Eugene Weeks
Sep. 16, 1938: Albert Dyer
Sep. 17, 1912: Bertram Spencer
Sep. 18, 1755: Mark and Phillis
Sep. 19, 1902: Fred Hardy
Sep. 20, 2006: Clarence Hill
Sep. 21, 2011: Troy Davis
Sep. 22, 1675: Little John
Sep. 23, 1921: Jake Martin and Putnam Ponsell
Sep. 24, 1896: Four in three different New Mexico towns
Sep. 25, 1991: Warren McCleskey
Sep. 26, 1778: James Fitzpatrick, aka “Sandy Flash”
Sep. 27, 1906: Adolph Weber
Sep. 28, 1832: Lucy Wells
Sep. 29, 1915: Thomas and Meeks Griffin
Sep. 30, 1814: Mary Antoine
Oct. 1, 1903: Willis, Frederick, and Burton van Wormer
Oct. 2, 1876: Marie Louise Houghton escapes capital murder prosecution
Oct. 3, 1873: Kintpuash, aka Captain Jack
On this day..
- 1588: St. Margaret Ward, the Pearl of Tyburn - 2020
- 1694: Mette Jensdatter, Viborg infanticide - 2019
- 1894: Abbe Albert Bruneau - 2018
- 2000: Gary Lee Roll, pained - 2017
- 1721: Janet Hutchie, repentant infanticide - 2016
- 1587: Thomas Conodale, A Sea Faringe man - 2015
- 1878: Sevier Lewis, a family affair - 2014
- 1535: Guillaume Husson, colporteur - 2013
- 1481: Michal Olelkowicz and Iwan Holszanski, Lithuanian princes - 2012
- 1867: Bridget Durgan, "hardly human" - 2011
- 1996: Ebbisaa Addunyaa, extrajudicially executed - 2010
- 1946: Grigory Semenov, anti-Bolshevik - 2009
- 1850: Prof. John Webster, for the timeless conflict between donors and academics - 2008
Entry Filed under: Themed Sets
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