Iowa
Old Press
Iowa Recorder
Greene, Butler co. Iowa
March 7, 1923
Hanging Friday Tenth in Iowa
Dubuque was Scene of First Legal Execution.
Earl Throst will be hanged Friday at Ft. Madison for the Murder
of Inga Magnussen.
Des Moines, March 6 -- When Sheriff Ben A. Davis springs the
gallows trap which sends Earl Throst to his death in the Fort
Madison prison year, Friday, March 9, it will be the tenth time
in its history that the state of Iowa has exacted the death
penalty for violation of its laws. Throst is scheduled to hang at
7:30 a.m., Friday, for the death of Inga Magnussen, pretty
Alamakee county country school teacher, whom he murdered in the
basement of her school house, near Dorchester, Dec. 12, 1921.
Anger at her refusal to accept his attentions was given as the
motive for the crime. Throst's execution will be the fourth that
has taken place at Fort Madison in the last seven months, the
other condemned men who paid the supreme penalty on the rough
prison gallows in that time being Ira Pavey, Eugene Weeks and
Orrie Cross.
Despite a number of recent hangings, the record of capital
punishment in Iowa is tempered with leniency, history shows. At
one period, from 1872 to 1878, the state had no capital
punishment law, choosing rather to sentence its murderers to life
imprisonment in the state penitentiary. It was on May 20, 1834,
that the first recorded trial for murder in what is now known as
the state of Iowa was held in the open air, beneath the wide
spreading branches of a large elm tree in Dubuque, according to
the account in The Annals of Iowa.
When Patrick O'Connor was charge with the murder of George o'Keaf
he answered, "I'll tend to my own business; you have no laws
in this country." O'Conner had been run out of Galena, Ill.,
for setting fire to some buildings and attempting to kill one of
the leading merchants by firing the contents of a loaded gun
through the door of his store. For these acts he narrowly escaped
lynching. O'Conner migrated to dubuque, then a flourishing mining
town supported by the lead mines nearby.
O'Keaf, an intelligent, industrious young miner, was shot by
O'Conner, five slugs entering his breast. O'Coner had forced the
door of O'Keaf's cabin, killing the latter as he entered.
A prosecuting attorney was appointed. O'Conner selected ne of his
former employers from Galena as his cousel, and on May 20, 1834,
the day following the murder, the trial was held. O'Conner chose
his jurors from 24 of the bystanders -- six Americans, three
Irishmen, one Englishman, one Scotchman and one Frenchman. When
asked if he was satisfied with the jury the prisoner replied that
he had no objection to any of them. The witnesses were then
examined, the prosecuting attorney and the counsel for the
defense addressed the jury, the jury retired and after
deliberating brought in a verdict of guilty and sentenced the
accused to be hanged. The date was set for the 20th of June,
1834, at 1 o'clock p.m. It will be noted the date for the
execution was set for just one month following conviction instead
of one year as the law now requires.
The gallows was erected in the vicinity of the present court
house in Dubuque, and O'Conner was executed here on the date set,
the first man to be hanged after trial by jury in what is now
Iowa. An eye-witness who wrote down the event is quoted in the
Annals account: "Immediately after this many of the reckless
and abandoned outlaws who had congregated at the Dubuque mines
began to leave for the sunier climes. The gleam of the bowie
knife was no longer seen in the nightly street brawls. the people
began to feel more secure in the enjoyment of life and
property." Since the hanging of O'Conner in the dim days of
Iowa's history, which is not counted as an official execution,
since Iowa was then but a territory, the state has exacted the
death penalty from nine men.
Following are the legal executions which have occcurred at Fort
Madison Penitentiary since its establishment in 1838:
October 1, 1894, James Dooley, of Adams county, for the murder of
his sweetheart. 16 years old when hanged.
February 8, 1895, J.K. Cumberland, Shelby county, for the murder
of two men.
April 20, 1906, Joseph Smith, negro, for the murder of a woman.
July 29, 1910, John Junkin, negro, for the killing of Clara Rosen
at Ottumwa.
September 18, 1922, Ira Pavey, Sioux county, for the murder of
Claude Letner, alleged booze runner.
September 25, 1922, Eugene Weeks, Polk county, for the murder of
George Fosdick, Des Moines grocer.
December 7, 1922, Orrie Cross, Polk county, for the murder of
George Fosdick, Des Moines grocer.
Those legally hanged at other places in the state were: Chester
Bellows, hanged at Charles City, Dec. 16, 1887, for the murder of
his niece; and Henry Scmidt, hanged at West Union for the murder
of Mr. and Mrs. Peek, Jan. 13, 1888.
Earl Throst will be the tenth man to be legally executed by the
state.
During the war three negroes, Robert Johnson, Fred Allen and
Stanley Grammell were tried by a military court martial, found
guilty, sentenced and hanged at Camp Dodge, July 5, 1918, for a
statutory offence against a white woman. the number of times the
death penalty has been exacted is in no wise however, an
indication of the number of the crimes committeed in the state
for which the death sentence could have been invoked. Prison
records at Fort Madison show that last year there were 82 men
serving life sentences for conviction of murder in the first
degree. For many years the tendency of juries in murder cases in
Iowa was to inflict the life penalty in lieu of hanging. In
recent years the abnormal increase in crime of every descripton
has resulted in a return to capital punishment, as evidenced by
the recent pending executions.
After Throst is taken to the gallows Friday, in case intervention
does not save him, There will still be four men in the death cell
at Fort Madison. These are William Olander, Fort Dodge, sentenced
to death for the murder of Berthold Halfpap, grocer; Joe
Williams, negro, Des Moines, convicted of the murder of Barbara
Thorsdale, school teacher; Roy Maupin, negro, waiting death for
the murder of Joe Hayes, Carney coal miner; and Archie Burris,
negro, Ottumwa, convicted of the murder of Hattie Bates, a
negress.
[submitted by S.F., Jan. 2004]
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Iowa Recorder
Greene, Butler co. Iowa
March 14, 1923
Des Moines -- There will be no change in capital punishment laws
in the state of Iowa. Four members of the Iowa house of
representatives: Lake and Forsling of Woodbury county, Blake of
Fayette county and Potts of Lee county, returned Saturday after
viewing the hanging of Earl Throst at the state prison, on
Friday. They were unanimous in their opinion that capital
punishment should not be abolished and that hanging was as human
a method as could be devised.
[submitted by S.F., Jan. 2004]