The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-02-15
Three Hangings Have
Taken Place I'm St. Paul

Three legal hangfngs in which fenr
murderers paid the penalty Of their
crimes on the gallows, is the history of
capital punishment in st. Paul. Never
in the entire history of the city, now
nearing the fiftieth anniversary of it's
birth, has a lynching occurred. The
criminal records of the county show
the people who have been executed in
st. Paul to be as follows:
Yu-ha-Zee, Sioux Indian. murdered
Mrs. Keener, member of a party Of
German immigrants, near Holmesville,
Oct 27, 1852; hanged in St. Paul Dec.
81. 1854.
Annie Bilanski, for poisoning her
husband, Stanislaus Bilanski, March
IL, 1859, was hanged March %, 1860.
Charles Ermisch and Otto WONG
keit. murdered William Lindhoff May
2, 1894; hanged Oct. 49,, 1894.
The hanging of Yu-ha-zee, the
young Sioux Indian, was the first le-
gal execution to take place in the
county, and the circumstances are well
remembered by many OF the old set
tiers. The Sioux, who were quite nu-
merous in this part Of the state, which
at that time, however, was yet terri
tory, had received in good faith a large
sum as quit claim for the territory
they were in possession of, but regard
less Of the fact that they had been
were unwilling to give peaceable pos
session to the whites, who were set
ting here. On Oct. 81, 1852, a party
of German immigrants were travelling
up the Minnesota valley, near Holiness
Vile, where they 9Were attacked by a
party of Indians Yu-ha-zee, a young
buck. shot and killed member of the
party, a woman named Mrs. Keener
The body was brought to st. Paul and
buried, and posse captured the muir
derer.
The speedy manner in which Yu-ha-
zee was convicted and sentenced goes
to show that there was but little delay
in the execution Of the law by the pfo-
neers who settled this country. The
on Tuesday, indicted by the grand
Jury of Ramsey county on Thursday,
tried and convicted of murder in the
first degree on Friday, and on Satur-
day was sentenced by Judge Hayner to
be hanged. The laws of the territory
at that time provided that a person
sentenced to be hanged could not be
executed for at least twelve months
thereafter, so Yu-ha-zee was not exc
cuted until Dec. 81, 1854.
The execution took place on a gall
lows erected for the purpose on st.
Anthony hill, at point now occupied
by the DR.. Day home on Dayton ave-
HU0, near arlington. Inc DAY or the
hanging was gala event in the his
tory of st. Paul. then a town of less
than 5000 Inhabitants. Country people
from miles around came to town TO
witness the execution, which, according
to old settlers, was looked upon more
as a joke than a matter of solemn
justice.
Hanged q Woman.
The next legal execution was that
+ Of Mrs. Annie Bilanski, in 1860. Tried
and convicted of having poisoned her
husband, she paid the penalty of her
crime on a gallows constructed In the
yard of the old court house square
now occupied by the city hall and court
house building. An engine house
stood at the Wabasha and Fifth street
\ corner of the block, and between this
building and the old court house the
galIows was constructed. The gall
Lows had been inclosed by a high board
fence, but this did not prevent hun
dreds of people from witnessing the
execution.
Il was county treasurer at that time
and remember the execution of the wo-
man quite well,' said Mayor Smith, in