1910: Johan Alfred Ander, the last executed in Sweden
Add comment November 23rd, 2016 Headsman
On this date in 1910, Sweden made its first and only use of the guillotine — in the very last execution of that country’s history.
The milestone subject’s name was Johan Alfred Ander, a failed hotelier and petty thief who, on January 5 of 1910, robbed a currency exchange outfit and in the process beat the clerk to death with a steelyard balance. As Ander had been casing his target from a nearby hotel whose own staff had grown suspicious of him, it didn’t take long to connect criminal to crime. An ample supply of incriminating booty in Ander’s possession (e.g., the beaten clerk’s wallet) confirmed the link.
Executions were already disappearing in Sweden at this point; by 1910, it had been a decade since the most recent one, ferry spree killer John Filip Nordlund. On the other hand, Sweden clearly anticipated repeat performances in the future because in the meantime it had ordered a guillotine. (Nordlund’s beheading was done by hand, by Albert Gustaf Dahlman, who also executed our man Ander.)
Ander never copped to the murder and refused to appeal for royal clemency.* Whether it was the savagery of the crime or the pride of its author, he was found a worthy candidate to interrupt the hiatus.
The death penalty was formally abolished in Sweden in 1921.
* Ander’s father did make an appeal on his behalf. It was (obviously) refused.
On this day..
- 1789: Ann Davis, the first woman hanged at Sydney Cove - 2019
- 1763: Charles Brown, security consultant - 2018
- 1901: Willie Louw, Boer commando - 2017
- 1825: Angelo Targhini and Leonidas Montanari, carbonari - 2015
- Feast of St. Clement - 2014
- 1955: Elli Barczatis and Karl Laurenz, East Berlin spies - 2013
- 1739: Seven of nine Williamsburg malefactors - 2012
- 1867: The Manchester Martyrs - 2011
- 1499: Perkin Warbeck, Princes in the Tower pretender - 2010
- 1974: Black Saturday in Ethiopia - 2009
- 1927: Father Miguel Pro, "Viva Cristo Rey!" - 2008
- 1910: Hawley Harvey Crippen - 2007
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Beheaded,Capital Punishment,Common Criminals,Crime,Death Penalty,Execution,Guillotine,History,Milestones,Murder,Pelf,Sweden,Theft
Tags: 1910, 1910s, albert dahlman, johan ander, november 23
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