Legacy of Violence: Lynch Mobs and Executions in MinnesotaThe first comprehensive history of lynchings and state-sanctioned executions in Minnesota. Minnesota is one of only twelve states that does not allow the death penalty, but that was not always the case. In fact, until 1911 executions in the state were legal and frequently carried out. In Legacy of Violence, John D. Bessler takes us on a compelling journey through the history of lynchings and state-sanctioned executions that dramatically shaped Minnesota's past. Through personal accounts of those involved with the events, Bessler traces the history of both famous and lesser-known executions and lynchings in Minnesota, the state's anti-death penalty and anti-lynching movements, and the role of the media in the death penalty debate. Bessler reveals Abraham Lincoln's thoughts as he ordered the largest mass execution in U.S. history of thirty-eight Indians in Mankato after the Dakota Conflict of 1862. He recounts the events surrounding the death of Ann Bilansky, the only woman ever executed in Minnesota, and the infamous botched hanging of William Williams, which led to renewed calls for the abolition of capital punishment. He tells the story of the 1920 lynching in Duluth of three African-American circus workers--wrongfully accused of rape--and the anti-lynching crusade that followed. The significant role that Minnesota played in America's transformation to private, after-dark executions is presented in the discussion of the "midnight assassination law." Bessler's account is made more timely by the thirty-five hundred people on death row in America today--more than at any other time in our nation's history. Is Minnesota's current approach superior to that of states that have capitalpunishment? Bessler looks at Minnesota history to ask whether the application of the death penalty can truly solve the problem of violence in America. |
Contents
1 Lynch Mobs and Public Hangings | 1 |
Mankatos Mass Hanging | 25 |
3 The Execution of Ann Bilansky | 67 |
Executions versus Life Sentences | 93 |
5 The Midnight Assassination Law | 113 |
6 The Botched Hanging of William Williams | 141 |
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Legacy of Violence: Lynch Mobs and Executions in Minnesota John D. Bessler Bessler No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
Ann Bilansky April attorney Bilansky's bill capital punishment Carley Civil and Indian convicted County Sheriff court crime criminal crowd death penalty death sentence December Duluth News Tribune February Fedo File first-degree murder gallows girl Governor grand jury guilty hanging Hayward Historical Society Press History of Minnesota Holden Indicted jail January John Day Smith Judge July June jurors Justice in Heaven killed Kilpatrick Kunhardt Lincoln Little Crow lynch mob Lynchings in Duluth Mankato March Mason Miesen Minn Minneapolis Journal Minneapolis Tribune Minnesota Historical Society Minnesota House Journal Minnesota Legislative Manual Minnesota Legislature Minnesota Senate Minnesota Senate Journal Murder in Minnesota NAACP Negroes newspaper October Paul Daily Pioneer Paul Dispatch Paul Pioneer Press Pioneer and Democrat police prison Ramsey County rape Redwood reported rope saying Sibley Sioux Uprising Sioux War Smith law Stanislaus Stanislaus’s state’s States-Dakota War Trials Sullivan testified tion told Trenerry United States-Dakota vote Walker Whipple William