“When I was a kid raising hell everyone told me I’d end up on the gallows, so I thought I’d fool them. Also, there’s an old saying I like: “Live by the sword and die by the sword.’”

— John Deering, convicted of murder and robbery, firing squad, Utah.
Executed October 31, 1938

Deering had spent seventeen years in jail after a robbery and shooting. Suspected of a second robbery, he was captured in Michigan and confessed to the murder of Oscar Meredith Jr. in a Salt Lake City robbery to avoid a fifteen-year Michigan jail sentence. Deering agreed to be hooked up to a machine that measured his heart rate during execution proceedings. When he was asked for a final statement, his heartbeat “fluttered wildly, then calmed after he spoke,” according to a Chicago Daily Tribune article.

“I declare that I ever had a great aversion to stealing and telling lies, and think them to be great crimes. I always meant to tell truth, and never stole, except taking a few apples from orchards may be called so.”

— Samuel Frost, convicted of murder, hanging, Massachusetts.
Executed October 31, 1793

Before he was fourteen years of age, Frost killed his father, who had mistreated his mother. The young teen hit his father in the head with a shovel, then continued to strike his skull. He went to jail for a time but was released and moved from home to home. Eventually, he stayed with a man identified as Captain Allen, upon whom he repeated his crime: Frost beat him to death with a garden hoe.

“See how a Confederate soldier can die.”

— John Nichols, convicted of Confederate guerrilla activity, hanging, Missouri
Executed October 30, 1863

Nichols was one of many Confederate soldiers executed by the state of Missouri.  Nichols’ death would come from the desk of President Lincoln, who approved the sentence.  Before his execution, Nichols confessed to his guerrilla activity, saying: “I have been a Confederate soldier and did all I could for the interests of the Confederacy…”