1955: Johnson William Caldwell
Add comment May 6th, 2015 Headsman
(Thanks to Robert Elder of Last Words of the Executed — the blog, and the book — for the guest post. This post originally appeared on the Last Words blog. Fans of this here site are highly likely to enjoy following Elder’s own pithy, almanac-style collection of last words on the scaffold. -ed.)
“I’ve lived a rough life, but I wonder if God has a place for people like me?”
— Johnson William Caldwell, convicted of murder, gas chamber, California.
Executed May 6, 1955
After serving time in the Texas State Prison for embezzlement, Caldwell found his way to California, where he met Lilly Pearl Storts. Three days and one drunken party later, they were married. When Caldwell asked for an informal loan one night, Storts refused. The next morning he returned home, hit her with an iron pipe, and strangled her to death with two belts. When stopped by an officer in Arkansas, he surprised the lawman by saying: “I’m the man you want for the murder of my wife.”
On this day..
- 1506: James Tyrrell, Princes in the Tower murderer? - 2020
- 1780: Dennis Carragan, John Hill, and Marmaduke Grant, robbers - 2019
- 1916: Not Constance Markievicz, "I do wish your lot had the decency to shoot me" - 2018
- 1801: Franz Troglauer - 2017
- 1791: William Jones, "in a country out of the reach of my enemies" - 2016
- 1887: Theodore Baker, who knew how it feels to be hanged - 2014
- 1958: Vivian Teed, a first and a last - 2013
- 1970: Ibrahim Husain Muhammad - 2012
- 1972: Deniz Gezmis, Yusuf Aslan, and Huseyin Inan, Turkish revolutionaries - 2011
- 1904: Zenon Champoux, French degenerate - 2010
- 1777: Antoine-Francois Derues, scam artist - 2009
- 1916: Syrian and Lebanese nationalists, who christen "Martyr's Day" - 2008
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,California,Capital Punishment,Common Criminals,Crime,Death Penalty,Execution,Gassed,Murder,USA
Tags: 1950s, 1955, johnson caldwell, lilly storts, may 6
Recent Comments