In a note to the warden:
“I am write [sic] you this letter to let you know how much I appreciate what you have did for me tell all the Boys in here and on the outside that Crimes don’t pay no one but the lawyers.”

En route to the death chamber:
“I’m going to sit in the chair and go to sleep.”

— Ernest Gaither JR., convicted of murder, electric chair, Illinois.
Executed October 24, 1947

Gaither went to the electric chair for the shooting death of Max Baran during a three-hundred-dollar bar robbery. He spent his final day reading the Bible and writing letters, and requested a bowl of cornflakes for his last meal. Waiting for midnight to arrive, he sang gospel songs including “Just a Little Talk with Jesus” and “I Know the Lord Has Laid His Hand on Me.” Witnesses to his execution included his two sons.

“Yes, sir. Where’s Mr. Marino’s mother? Did you get my letter? Just wanted to let you know, I sincerely meant everything I wrote. I am sorry for the pain. I am sorry for the life I took from you. I ask God for forgiveness and I ask you for the same. I know it may be hard, but I’m sorry for what I did. To my family I love each and every one of you. Be strong. Know my love is always with you . . . always…Jesus, I confess you as my Lord and Savior. I know when I die, I’ll have life in heaven and life eternal everlasting. I am ready for that mansion that you promised me.”

— Gerald Mitchell, convicted of robbery and murder, lethal injection, Texas.
Executed October 22, 2001

In his young life, Mitchell had been arrested for burglary and taking a pistol to school, served time in a juvenile detention center, and allegedly fathered seven children with six women prior to his death sentence.

Shortly after robbing one man and killing another, Mitchell shot a third man to death, saying, “Raise your hands white boy, you don’t want to die with your hands down.” While he was on death row, Mitchell’s father was shot to death, his brother was pinned for a felony bank robbery, and his mother was put on probation for drugs. On death row, Mitchell said, “I was full of hate, full of rage. I really can’t explain why. I was attracted to the wild side, the street life where you’re trying to make a name for yourself.”

“I am going to tell the truth before God. I am innocent of the charge…My kin people brought me to this, and I want them to pray to meet me in heaven. I have heard they said hanging was too good for me, that I ought to be burned…I hope this poor man will be released, as he is innocent before God.”

Turning to her sister on the scaffold:
“I want to be buried by the side of my mother, but they will not allow it. They don’t care what becomes of my body. Good-bye! Sister, good-bye!”

— Margaret Harris, convicted of murder, hanging, Georgia.
Executed October 19, 1883

Indentured servant Harris, age eighteen, was accused of poisoning the family she worked for in order to leave and live with David Dukes, her alleged accomplice, whom she referred to as “this poor man.” Prosecutors said she first added the poison to coffee, which only sickened her mistress, widow Nancy Barnwell, and Barnwell’s two grandchildren. She then added poison, procured from Duke, to rice, killing one of the grandchildren. A commutation was requested from the governor, but it was refused “as there has lately been a perfect avalanche of poisoning cases and an example needed to be made of it,” according to the Chicago Daily Tribune. At the hanging, “In the Sweet By-and-By” was sung by the four clergymen attending. The condemned and spectators joined in the song.