The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-11-21
NINE EXECUTIONS
IN UTAH'S- HISTORY
The First Two Occurred Back in
the EARLY COS.
ONLY ONE WAS HANGED
OTHER EIGHT ELECTED TO BE
SHOT TO DEATH.

Many murders have been committed
in Utah since it was made a terri
tory on sept. 9, 1850, by President Mil
lard Fillmore. but in spite of that fact
only nine men have legally expiated
their crimes at the hands Of the au-
/ thorities Eight of the men were shot
TO death and one was hanged. The
/ latter execution was a very bungling
affair, the prisoner being choked, dy-
/ ing a frightul death. In the other
instances, where a rifle was used, death
was instantaneous.
The first legal execution in the ter
ritory occurred in the early SOS, when
/ "Jace" Luce and John Ferguson We're
put 10 death. As no records Of such
/ events were kept in those days, il is
! impossible at this time to determine
[ just when they were executed
! Luce was the first of the two TO be
shot. He stabbed a man to death on
I Main street in front of what is now
/ the Progress block. The trouble be-
/ tween them grew out of a drunken
quarrel. The execution. which occurred
/ in the courthouse square, attracted a
/ large crowd. just before Luce was
] executed, when asked if he had any
/ thing to say, he asked for a chew Of
/ tobacco. which was given him.
/ The details of Ferguson's crime are
/ unknown, those who were in salt Lake
/ City at the time not being able to
/ remember the facts in the case He
was shot through the heart at point
| just outside the old city wall north of
/ the city cemetery. He was So years Of
/ age.
John D. Lee Came Third.
John D. Lee, of Mountain Meadow
! massacre fame, was the third man ex-
/ eCuted in the state. He was not put
/ to death until twenty years after the
! massacre in the southern part of the
State. He was shot by soldiers in 1877.
! He was confined in the Beaver county
/ jail. Two days before the date set for
/ the execution he was conveyed over
! land in 2 wagon TO the scene of the
massacre and, seated on the head of
/ his coffin, was shot through the heart.
His only regret, as expressed at the
I time of the execution. was that he was
/ compelled to leave his wives and chill
| dren. He said President Brigham
Young. then head of the Mormon
/ church, was leading the people astray.
but said the doctrines Of the CHURCH
/ lead to salvation.
! Lee was convicted Of leading a band
Of Indians and white men, the latter
disguised as Indians, who massacred an
/ Arkansas emigration train of about 100
! adults. who were enroute from that
! state, across Utah territory. to Cali
] fornfa No mercy was shown any of
the members of the party. excepting
/ the children, whose lives were spared
They were afterwards returned to
friends and relatives in Arkansas.
WiIkerson Killed Two Men.
Provo was the scene of the next
/ execution. 1t occurred on May Is, 1873.
| The man put to death was Wallace
! Wifkerson. aged 81 He was convicted
] of numbering a ranchman.. He was
! to have been executed on Dec. ID,
/ 1877, but Governor Emery gave him a
! respite that day. Before ne was shot,
/ Wilkerson said his one regret was that
! he had not killed his father, who, in
] the prisoners younger days. had chas-
/ tised him Cor some childish Offense.
/ Ever afterwards he bore an enmity
! towards his parent. Shortly before he
4 was executed Wilkerson confessed that
/ he had killed his school teacher in the
! east, for whipping him. While walk
/ ing in the woods WilkersOn shot him
/ in the temple. He placed the revolver
in the dead mans hand. holding it
there until the fingers became rigid.
1t that position the body was found,
and a verdict of suicide was re-
| turned.
Fred welcome, alias Fred Hopt,
came next He killed John F. Turn
er, son of Sheriff Turner CT Utah coun-
| ty, burying the body in Echo can
yon, where it was found some time
! later, partially devOured by vultures.
Four times was Welcome tried, his
! case costing the state $4,000 Twice
/ his case was taken to the United States
supreme court, being reversed both
times on a technicality.
Danced in His Bloody Clothes.
! Shortly before the murder was COM
mitted, Welcome worked for the sher-
if. who gave him money to 60 to Park
City. It was there that he met the
sherif's son and killed him. With his
/ clothes despatched with his victim s
blood, Welcome danced that evening,
leaving the next day with another man
for Wyoming. They took Turner's
body as far as Echo canyon, and bur-
led it in a tent, where it was after
! wards found. Jack Emerson, alias
/ John Mccormick. Welcomes cOmpan-
ion, was captured with him in Wyo-
ming by Sheriff Turner. The latter
would have killed Welcome at the time
had not officers interfered.
Welcome got a death sentence, and
Emerson was sent up for life. After
serving five years he was pardOned by
Governor Murray.
The only request Welcome made aft
err he realized that he must die was
that Sheriff Turner be not permitted
to witness the execution. The morn
ing he was led out TO die he gave his
death watch a quantity of morphine,
saying that he returned it to show
that he could have killed himself had
he thought Sheriff Turner was to be
present. Welcome was % years of
age when he was executed. The crime
! was committed when he was p.
intoxicated When Executed.
Enoch Davis was drunk when he was
executed. His two sons were present
at the time and were jeered at and re-
! viled by their father. He refused 10
ride to the scene Of the execution iE
the conveyance provided by the state,
| preferring to ride seated on his coffin
in the wagon in which it was placed.
He met death Sept. a. 1885,. He was
| convicted of killing his wife by cut
/ ting her throat, and burying her body
in a potato field. The grave was in the
rear Of his own home.
/ The next man to die was Charles
| Thiede, a Dutch bartender of Murray
| who was the only man hanged in the
state He died of strangulatiOn. The
execution took place in the jail yard
in this city on Aug. Z. 1896. The gal
lows was poorly constructed affair
the man being chOked to death in con-
sequence.
Thiede cut his wife's throat in a fit