As you all know Betsey Reed was the first and last woman ever to be hung in the state of Illinois.
The last man to be hung was the notorious southern Illinois gangster, Charlie Birger.
Ol' Charlie got away with murder several times, but, on this occasion he wasn't so lucky. He was tried for the murder of Joe Adam, mayor of West City Illinois. He turned himself in without a fight, but soon regretted the decision as he was tried in Benton in Franklin County. (It was a county he didn't control.)
If you look at the picture above, you can guess what the outcome of the trial was. Thousands of people turned out for the hanging. It was the second largest public gathering in southern Illinois history.
The largest gathering was... The Hanging of Betsey Reed.
1 comment:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.illinoishistory.com/Birger%27s%2520Last%2520Stand-testingropes.jpg&imgrefurl=http://illinoishistory.blogspot.com/&h=350&w=541&sz=59&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=kxo-j4gMcq5WNM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=132&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhangings%2Bin%2Billinois%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dopera%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DN
Post a Comment