Executed women of the 20th and 21st centuries / L. Kay Gillespie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gillespie, L. Kay.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women prisoners--United States--Case studies.

Women prisoners.

Death row inmates--United States--Case studies.

Death row inmates.

Capital punishment--United States--Case studies.

Capital punishment.

United States.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

xxviii, 127 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : University Press of America, [2009]

Summary:

Executed Women of the 20th and 21st Centuries provides a look into the lives, crimes, and executions of women during the 20th and 21st centuries. Rather than dealing with these women as numbers and statistics, this book presents them as human beings. Each of these women had lives, histories, and families. The purpose is not to condone their actions, but to suggest that those we executed are, in fact, humans-rather than monsters, as they are often portrayed.

Contents:

Part 1 Hanging-"[D]on't hang me high. . .for decency sake." 1

Arizona 1

"I don't know where I'm going but I'm on my way." / Eva Dugan 1

Vermont 8

"Moral Idiot" / Mary Rogers 8

Louisiana 8

"Sweet Pirogueing Mama" / Ada LeBoeuf 8

Julia Moore 10

Delaware 11

"My way is clear; I have nothing else to say." / May Carey 11

Mississippi 12

"Torch Murderer" / Mary Holmes 12

Comparison Case: Winnie Ruth Judd-"Trunk Slayer" 13

Part 2 The Electric Chair-"This is a step forward in the cause of humanity." 21

New York 23

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, have mercy on my soul." / Mary Farmer 23

"If there is a penitent in this world, I am that." / Ruth Snyder 24

"I am not afraid to die. I have nothing on my conscience." / Anna Antonio 28

"I wish to God the men I know would help me now." / Eva Coo 29

"I'm tired, maybe I can rest now." / Mary Francis Creighton 31

"Black Helen," "Sugar Woman" / Helen Fowler 33

"I know my sin was great, but the penalty is great too." / Martha Jule Beck 34

Alabama 37

"I'm going home where the angels dwell." / Selina Gilmore 37

"God has forgiven me for all I have done." / Earle Dennison 38

"I want my body . . . given to some scientific institution . . . ." / Rhonda Belle Martin 38

Ohio 39

"[D]on't do this to me . . . Can't you think of my baby?" / Anna Marie Hahn 39

"[He] wanted a housekeeper and I wanted a home." / Blanche Dean 40

"My work is done." / Betty Butler 41

Pennsylvania 42

"I am going to die. . .but I am not afraid." / Irene Schroeder 42

Corrine Sykes 43

South Carolina 43

"I am ready to go." / Sue Logue 43

"Root Doctor" / Rose Marie Stinette 43

Virginia 44

"I'm right much worried." / Virginia Christian 44

Illinois 45

"I hold no malice towards anyone." / Marie Porter 45

Louisiana 46

"The victim doesn't return to haunt me. I never think of him." / Toni Jo Henry 46

Mississippi 47

Mildred Johnson 47

Georgia 47

Lena Baker 47

Comparison Cases: Effie Jowers-"Hammer Slayer" and Nannie Hazel Doss-"Arsenic Annie" 47

Part 3 The Gas Chamber-"How in the hell would you know?" 55

California 56

"My blood will burn holes in [your] bodies." / Juanita Spinelli 56

"There will be no screaming or hysterics. I am not built that way." / Louise Peete 58

"I am paying for a life of little sins." / Barbara Graham 59

"I am innocent. Where's Frank?" / Elizabeth Duncan 61

Comparison Case: Dr. Alice Wynekoop 63

Part 4 Federal Executions of Women 67

"If I had two lives to give, I'd give one gladly to save Mrs. Surratt." / Mary Surratt 67

"Always remember that we were innocent and could not wrong our conscience." / Ethel Rosenberg 69

"I'd rather die than be poor." / Bonnie Brown Heady 71

Comparison Cases: Judith Coplon-"The Petticoat Spy" and Mildred Gillars-"Axis Sally" 72

Part 5 The Last Two of the 20th Century 75

"Here she comes baby doll, she's all yours." / Karla Faye Tucker 75

"Via con dios" / Judi Buenoano 78

Comparison Case: Guineveve Garcia, "Stay out of my case. Stay out of my life." 80

Part 6 The New Century 83

Executions of Women: 20th and 21st Centuries 83

Truth about Trunk Murders Dies with Winnie Ruth Judd 84

Murderous Driver Dies on Nevada's Death Row 85

"My time is running and the State of Texas will pick up where my husband left off...." / Betty Lou Beets 85

"Now I can be with my babies as I always intended." / Christina Riggs 87

"I am the type of person I will hunt someone down I love and kill them." / Wanda Jean Allen 88

"She told us to burn him." / Marilyn Kay Plantz 89

"I won't have to hear her name anymore." / Lois Nadean Smith 90

"Give me liberty or give me death." / Lynda Lyon-Sibley [Block] 91

"If I am damned, who is forgiven?" / Aileen Carol Wuornos (Damsel of Death) 92

"I know I did not murder my kids and my family." / Frances Elaine Newton 93

Comparison Case: Tiffany Hall-"I will never get out." 94

Part 7 Clemencies and Commutations 99

Part 8 What Must a Woman Do to Be Executed? 111.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780761845669

0761845666

OCLC:

316827954