(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.)

Gentlemen, it was said that I killed Richards over a girl. That is not so. It was pure passion. I had thought the man wanted to take everything away from me and now I am to pay for his life. Good-bye.

—Joseph Cadotte, convicted of murder, hanging, Montana.
Executed December 27, 1895

According to rumor, Cadotte shot his hunting partner, Oliver Richards, in the middle of an argument about hunting proceeds and a pretty girl who preferred Richards to Cadotte. Cadotte later claimed that Richards drew a knife on him during the fight. During his trial, the prosecuting attorney pointed to a birthmark around Cadotte’s neck that looked like a rope burn and said, “Nature evidently intended the man to die. He was born to be hung.”

On this day..

• 1787: Three robbers, "very penitent"
• 1901: Massacre of Barrio la Nog
• 1864: Richard Hale, but not Cecilia Baker
• 1539: St. John Stone
• 1821: Ketaukah and Kewahiskin, the first hangings in the Michigan Territory
• 1504: Ivan Volk Kuritsyn, Ivan Maksimov and Dmitry Konoplev, Judaizers
• Themed Set: Heresy
• 2001: Kojiro Asakura, frustrated realtor
• 1666: Nine Covenanters in Ayr and Edinburgh
• 1944: Not Sim Kessel, Jewish boxer
• 1899: Hilda Blake, poorhouse orphan
• 1979: Hafizullah Amin
• 1739: Penelope Kenny and Sarah Simpson