This week in 1943

Written in a note to the warden:
“By my death, the state will gain nothing, while I will gain eternal life.”

— Ernest Wishon, convicted of murder, electric chair, Illinois.
Executed November 26, 1943

After the army rejected him and he separated from his wife, Wishon turned to drink. When funds ran out, he “decided to pull a job to get more money for booze.” During the hold-up of a jewelry store, Wishon killed seventy-nine-year-old owner Joseph Schulte.