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The U.S. Marshal has been historically assigned the task of conducting
the death sentences on those condemned by federal courts. This stemmed
from “An Act for the Punishment of certain Crimes against the United
States” (April 30, 1790) and the
Judiciary Act of 1789.
The first known federal execution under this authority was conducted by
U.S. Marshal Henry Dearborn of Maine on June 25, 1790. He was ordered to
execute one Thomas Bird for murder on the high seas. In coordinating
this, Dearborn spent money on building a gallows and coffin.
Later, as U.S. Marshals saw more death sentences imposed, a few
districts resorted to more permanent equipment.
U.S. Marshal E.D. Nix of
Oklahoma had a portable scaffold that could be easily packed for travel
in 1894.
Convicted of President Lincoln's Assassination,
Surratt, David Herold, George Atzerodt and Paine were hanged on the grounds of present-day Fort McNair.
Most death sentences required use of the gallows until the mid Twentieth
Century. The famous “Hanging Judge,” the Honorable Isaac Parker of the
Western District of Arkansas, ordered 160 known executions, of which 79
were actually carried out after the appeals and commutation process.
Often hangings created a spectacle, so most crowds were kept at a
distance. The Western District resorted to tickets to distinguish
relatives and witnesses from the curious.
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The most famous federal executions attended by the U.S. Marshals were
those of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in June 1953. U.S. Marshal William
A. Carroll of the Southern District of New York rented the electric
chair at the famous Sing Sing Prison and saw to his duties. On March 15,
1963, U.S. Marshal Covell Meek of the Northern District of Iowa oversaw
the execution by hanging of convicted murderer and kidnapper Victor
Feguer. The latest federal executions were that of Timothy McVeigh and Juan Raul
Garza, on June 11 and June 19, 2001 respectively. McVeigh was sentenced
to death for the1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma
City. U.S. Marshal Frank Anderson of Northern Indiana attended to both
executions at the Federal Penitentiary at Terre Haute. |
George
Maledon, Deputy U.S. Marshal who was responsible for carrying
out executions for Judge Parker
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Compiled by Dave Turk, Historian
U.S. Marshals Service
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