This week in 1821

“I am against this horrible form of murder by the state, but I would rather be standing here for the crime that, so help me God, I never remember committing, than to be sitting down there eagerly waiting to see a man die. Let the state of Illinois take shame upon itself. Good-bye.”

— Edward J. Brislane, convicted of murder, hanging, Illinois.
Executed February 11, 1921

While robbing the Crawford Theater, Brislane shot its manager, William Mills. “I shot Mills,” he said. “There was no reason. I was drunk and a damned fool.” Sheriff Peters rejected Brislane’s suggestion to have him hanged in Grant Park.