American Hangman : A Biography of Amos Lunt, the Executioner of San Quentin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Buhk, Tobin T.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lunt, Amos, 1846-1901.

Lunt, Amos.

California State Prison at San Quentin--Biography.

California State Prison at San Quentin.

Executions and executioners--California--Biography.

Executions and executioners.

Hanging--California--History.

Hanging.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (291 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Jefferson : McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers, 2022.

Summary:

"In the 1890s, Amos Lunt served as the San Quentin hangman, tying the nooses that brought the most dangerous criminals in the Wild West to their deaths. A former police chief who became the hangman of San Quentin due to an unfortunate turn of events, Lunt stood on the gallows alongside bank robbers, desperadoes and assassins throughout a five-year career. This book follows Lunt's trail from the Santa Cruz police department to the San Quentin State Prison. Covering his interesting friendship with a series of death row inmates to the gradual deterioration of his sanity, it is a one-of-a-kind biography that profiles an American executioner. Also profiled are his subjects--twenty of the West's most heinous criminals--as well as Lunt's preparations for their hangings and their final moments on the gallows"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover

Table of Contents

Biographical Timeline

Preface: Enter the Hangman

Introduction

Part I: From Boston to San Quentin (1846-1894)

1. Go West, Young Man

2. The Wild West of Amos Lunt, Lawman

3. Sheriff William E. Hale and the Sutton Debacle

4. The Last Straw

5. Warden Hale and the Politics of Execution

6. The San Quentin Gallows and Gallows Procedures

7. Off the Wall

8. One Hot Summer

9. First Drop and an Old Hangman Sets the Stage

Part II: The Hangman of San Quentin (1894-1901)

10. Learning the Ropes

11. Tight Rope

12. The Triple Event

13. "Tighten up the Rope"

14. Hanging by a String

15. "The Gallows Frame Rattled"

16. Tenth Man

17. The Master and the Apprentice

18. Business Not as Usual

19. Unlucky No. 13

20. "With a ­red-hot iron"

21. "The Criminal of the Century"

22. The Rix Interview

23. Friday, the Thirteenth

24. The Bat in the Belfry

25. Bloody Spring

26. "It was a family affair and I killed her"

27. "If I had been a good boy and obeyed my mother…"

28. The Hunchback of San Quentin

29. The Final Noose

30. The End of the Line

31. Descent

32. Hangman's Friday

33. Fates of the Major Characters

34. Twenty-One Ghosts

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Chapter Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Buhk, Tobin T. American Hangman

ISBN:

9781476646015