1905: John Johnson
January 20th, 2017 Meaghan
(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.)
On this date in 1905, John Johnson was hanged for the murder of Patrolman Dennis Fitzgerald of the Chicago Police Department.
On September 26, 1903, Johnson and another man, Louis Tedford, were being drunk and disorderly near the corner of 44th Street and Indiana Avenue. Fitzgerald told them to move along. In response, the two men beat him to a pulp and shot him with his own gun.
Fitzgerald was a strong man and he lingered for four months before he died on January 20, 1904. Authorities determined his death was a direct result of his wounds. He was buried in Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery.
As for the two offenders, both were convicted of murder, but Tedford got off relatively easily with a fourteen-year sentence. The jury determined Johnson was the one most responsible for the officer’s death, and so he paid for it with his life, a year to the day after Fitzgerald died. “Please hurry things along,” were his last words.
It was a busy day with the rope around North America.
Macon (Ga.) Telegraph, Jan 21, 1905
Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, Jan. 21, 1905
On this day..
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- 1823: Giles East - 2019
- 1875: A day in the death penalty on opposite sides of Pennsylvania - 2018
- 1922: Eleuterio Corral and Rumaldo Losano, escapees - 2016
- 1979: Julio Vargas Garayar, the last executed in Peru - 2015
- 2013: Alireza Mafiha and Mohammad Ali Sorouri, viral video stars - 2014
- 1964: Preap In, Khmer Serei operative - 2013
- 1880: Andrew Scott and Thomas Rogan, bushrangers - 2012
- 250: Pope St. Fabian - 2011
- 1677: William Drummond, for Bacon's Rebellion - 2010
- 1758: Francois Macandal, forgotten black messiah - 2009
- Feast Day of St. Sebastian - 2008
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Capital Punishment,Common Criminals,Crime,Death Penalty,Disfavored Minorities,Execution,Guest Writers,Hanged,Illinois,Murder,Other Voices,Racial and Ethnic Minorities,USA
Tags: 1900s, 1905, chicago, dennis fitzgerald, january 20, john johnson
