, 1935-08-02
U. S. Arranges to Hang First Mar
Sentenced to Die Under Lindbergh Law
BY RAY KIRKLAND
Central Press Correspondent

MUSROGEE, Okla, Aug. g.
Unless the supreme court or the
president OF the United States in
tervenes, Arthur Gooch, cookbook
ing Okmulgee, Okla, butcher boy
who turned kidnaper. will be hang
ed here September Is for the alb
duction Of two Texas officers last
December.
Convicted by a federal court jury
at Durant, Gooch was rushed TO the
c~ity-federal jail here for safe keep
ing. There, on June IS, Federal
Judge Robert L. williams metec
out the first death sentence in the
United States under the Lindbergh
law.
Gooch has been al odds with the
law since 1880 when he was first
arrested on a forgery charge. Re-
leased, he figured in a number OF
robberies in eartern Oklahoma fol-
which officers trailed him until
last November, when he was arrest
ed at Holdenville and placed II
the Hughes county Jail.
LIN Jail Less Than a Week
Gooch stayed In jail less than q
week. With the help Of q fellow
prisoner, Ambrose Nix, he sluggeo
the jailer, escaped, stole an auto
mobile and fled TO Texas.
Cornered at a Paris, Texas, fill
ling station the following day by
r. N. Baker. assistant police chief
and II. r. Marks. patrolman, the
two desperadoes beat the officer:
to the draw, forced them into their
own automobile and drove them
into the wilds Of the Kiamichi
mountains of southeastern Oklaho-
ma where they held them captive
for 10 hours before releasing them
near Cloudy. Okla.
Gooch and Nix roamed at large
until December 26, when they shot
1t out with the law lea Okemah
Okla. Nix was killed and Goocf
fen to the ground begging the Of
ficers not to kill him. Rushed tc
the MuSkogee Jail after Okemah
citizens voiced mob violence, Gooch
vas held without bond until the
June term OF federal court which
opened at Durant.
Judges Decision
Judge Williams peered down at the
defendant almost sorrowfully as hi
handed down the first death SEN
tence under the recently enacted
federal kidnapping statute.
1T Is no pleasure to NE to SEN
tence a man to die" he said. But
when men like you roam the coun-
try like a pack of mad dogs. killing
robbing and kidnapping. I am going
to do It."
The formal sentence was:
Il hereby sentence this defend
ant. Arthur Gooch. for the felony
for which he has been convicted and
In accordance with the verdict OF
the jury; on Friday. Sept. Is, at the
city-federal jail at Muskogee, with
In the hours of that day, to hang
by the neck until dead"
MhSt III DO ICdTS
Gooch's hanging will be the first
legal execution in Muskogee In &c
years. In 1899 Charles Culley, a
negro, was hanged for killing a
white man. A year previously Mat
thew Craig of Tahlequah was hang
ed here for numbering a deputy
United States marshal.
Muskogee has no gallows and pres
ent day marshals know little Of the
fundamentals Of how a person
should be hanged. When the new
city-federal jail was built here in
1902 a place was left in the west
side for the gallows and federal at
taches have intimated it probably
will be placed there.
Sam Swinney. U. S. marshal fol
the eastern Oklahoma district, vii
spring the trap and DR.. John Rey-
noldS, mayor of Muskogee and fed
eral jail physician will pronounce
the victim dead.