Carl Panzram

{{Infobox serial killer
|name        =Carl Panzram
|image       =Carl Panzram.jpg
|caption     =Carl Panzram under the alias "Jefferson Baldwin" in 1915
|birth_name  =Charles Panzram
|alias       =Henry PanzramCarl BaldwinJeff DavisJefferson DavisJefferson RhodesJeff RhodesJack AllenJefferson BaldwinJohn KingJohn O'LearyCooper JohnTeddy Bedard
|birth_date  =
|birth_place =East Grand Forks, Minnesota
|death_date  =
|death_place=Leavenworth, Kansas
|victims     =5&ndash;22
|country     =United StatesAfrica
|states      =Oregon, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Kansas
|beginyear   =1910 {alleged but unconfirmed}1915 (as accessory), 1920
|apprehended =1928Arrests/prison terms:1899;1903&ndash;1905, 1906&ndash;1907, 1908&ndash;1910,1911,1915&ndash;1917, 1918, 1923,1923&ndash;1928,1928&ndash;1930
|endyear     = 1930
|sentence    =Death by Hanging
}}

**Carl Panzram** (June 28, 1891 - September 5, 1930) was an American serial killer who was hanged for murder. He served time under his own name and various aliases in Fresno, California; Rusk, Texas; The Dalles, Oregon; Harrison, Idaho; Butte, Montana; Montana State Reform School in Miles City; Montana State Prison (as "Jeff Davis" #4194 #3194 and "Jefferson Rhodes" #4396); Oregon State Prison ("Jefferson Baldwin" #7390); Bridgeport, Connecticut ("John O'Leary"); Sing Sing Correctional Facility, New York ("John O'Leary" #75182); Clinton Correctional Facility, New York ("John O'Leary" #75182

## Early life
Panzram was born on June 28, 1892, in East Grand Forks, Minnesota the son of Johann Gottlieb Panzram 1843-1926 and Matilda. He had five other siblings who did not become thieves, but Carl was stealing since he was six years old.
## Crime and Murder Spree
By his own admission he committed over 22 murders although only five can be confirmed.
Likewise glimpses of Panzram criminal activies can be found although they are few and sometimes under his alias:
*On April 7, 1913 under the alias "Jeff Davis," Panzram was arrested in Malta, Montana: "A fellow giving his name as Jeff Davis was arrested Monday morning for disorderly conduct and placed in the county jail. During the day information came from Chinook that he was wanted there for breaking into a dentist's office and stealing a lady's fur lined coat and a tube of gold. A Chinook officer came after Jeff Tuesday. The coat in question was sold in Malta for $5.00 and by the way it looks like the party bought $5.00 worth of experience instead of coat."
While imprisoned in Oregon State Prison alias "Jeff Baldwin":
*On May 12, 1918, he escaped again by sawing through the bars of his cell,
*In 1920 he burgled William Howard Taft manison in Connecticut:
}} as well as Taft's Colt M1911 .45 caliber handgun.
With the stolen money under the alais John O'Leary he bought a yacht *Akista*, which he used to kill ten sailors. This was stopped only when the *AKista* was wrecked on New Jersey. There is confirmation for some of his account according to a contemporary Newspaper account:  October 3, 1920 John O'Leary captain of yacht Akiska along with John Delaney and J. Gilmore had lashed themsleves to the yacht capstan after the Akiska foundered and turned over on its side on the Brigantien Shoals at Atlantic City NJ trying to make shelter in Absecon Inlet; on October 6, 1920 they were rescued by Captain Henry Brown of a fishing smack; O'Leary was in Hospital from Shock and exposure.
The Gun in Philadelphia: After his 1920 shipwreck, Panzram gave the gun to Dr. Charles McGivern for safekeeping while he served a six-month sentence in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Upon his release in 1921, he retrieved the gun from the doctor and traveled to Philadelphia.
1921 Arrest: In May 16, 1921, Panzram was arrested in Philadelphia following a shootout involving police and strikers. While accounts confirm he was arrested for aggravated assault and inciting a riot during this period, he managed to bail out and flee to Africa. 
While Taft’s .45 was his primary weapon for the 1920–1921 sprees, Panzram later used other firearms for various crimes, including: 
*9mm Luger: Used for his murders in Africa (Angola), including the killing of six crewmen he fed to crocodiles.
*.38 Caliber Pistol: Stolen from another yacht and used to kill a man near Kingston, New York, in 1923
## Death 

File:Carl Panzram, Clinton prison, 1923.jpg|Carl Panzram Clinton Prison 1923

After being sentenced to death for killing Warnke,in response to offers from death penalty opponents and human rights activists to intervene, Panzram wrote, "The only thanks you and your kind will ever get from me for your efforts on my behalf is that I wish you all had one neck and that I had my hands on it."
On September 5, 1930, Panzram was hanged for murder at Leavenworth prison. When asked if had any last words, he snapped back "Hurry it up you Hoosier Bastard. I could kill ten men while you're fooling around!". He was buried in the prison graveyard marked only by his prison number.

During his last imprisonment a prison guard Henry Lesser gave Panzram a dollar to buy cigarettes; Panzram was so surprised by this one act of kindness that in return he wrote his autobiography—making it quite clear that he did not repent at all of the robberies, murders, arsons, and rapes which he had committed-writing a detailed summary of his crimes and nihilistic philosophy. It began with a straightforward statement:

In 1938, Karl Menninger wrote *Man Against Himself*, including writing about Panzram using the pen name of "John Smith", with Panzram Prison Number # 31614. Lesser preserved Panzram's letters and autobiographical manuscript, then spent the next four decades in search of a publisher willing to print the material. Finally, in 1970, it was released under the title *Killer: A Journal of Murder*. In 1996, the book formed the basis of a film of the same name, starring James Woods as Panzram and Robert Sean Leonard as Lesser. In 1980, Lesser donated Panzram's material to San Diego State University, where they are housed, as the "Carl Panzram papers", in the Malcolm A. Love Library. In 2012 filmmaker John Borowski released a documentary entitled *Carl Panzram: The Spirit of Hatred and Vengeance*.

## References