1955: Frederick Arthur Cross, “not a bit sorry for myself”
July 26th, 2019 Headsman
“I made up my mind to do away with myself and bought a tin of rat poison, but hadn’t the courage to do it. When I saw the man in the public house I got the idea that if I killed him I would be hanged. I’m not a bit sorry for myself, but I am sorry for him and I wish I’d known before this that he was married.”
–Frederick Arthur Cross, depressed after his wife left him, insisting to his judge on pleading guilty to the capital murder of a stranger in a ‘suicide by executioner’ case. Cross was hanged on July 26, 1955.
On this day..
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- 1817: Eleanor Gillespie - 2017
- 1912: George Shelton and John Bailey - 2016
- 1815: Eliza Fenning, for the dumplings - 2015
- 1847: Manuel Antonio Ay, Caste War harbinger - 2014
- 1578: Thee Bruges Minnenbroder - 2013
- 1768: Seven coal-heavers to crush the London port strike - 2012
- 1992: 42 Iraqi merchants - 2011
- 1872: Jose Balta, former President of Peru - 2010
- 1941: Paul Ogorzow, the S-Bahn Murderer - 2009
- 1794: Loizerolles and others for the Conspiracy of the Prisons - 2008
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Capital Punishment,Common Criminals,Crime,Death Penalty,England,Execution,Hanged,Murder,Volunteers
Tags: 1950s, 1955, frederick cross, july 26, suicide, suicide by cop, suicide by executioner