This week in 1869

“The sands of a brief existence have nearly run; my eyes are closing forever upon the beauties of this lesser world, to open, I hope and trust and pray, upon the splendor of a better. I bid all a last farewell.”

— George Truman, convicted of murder, hanging, Maryland.
Executed May 28, 1869

In his confession, twenty-one-year-old Truman said an “unnamed accessory” advised him to rob a clothing peddler on Frederick Road. When the man resisted, Truman beat him with stones until he lay bleeding on the ground. Truman took the man’s boots, pants, hat, and carpetbag full of merchandise, and left him for dead. The next day, Truman found the man a short distance from where he had left him, conscious but unable to move. He returned to his uncle’s home, where he lived, and brought his uncle’s pistol back to shoot the peddler in the head. The above quotation is part of a longer confession prepared by Truman.