June 22, 1965

June 22, 1965, marks the execution of George Ronald York and James Douglas Latham after Governor William Avery refused to grant clemency. In the book’s account, the date also extends the sequence of capital cases in which Avery declined to intervene.

The Date and Its Event

The date is given as the day George Ronald York and James Douglas Latham were hanged. The account provides no further details about the execution itself; its emphasis is on the outcome of the clemency appeals and the date on which the sentences were carried out.

Clemency and the Governor

The passage connects the executions to Avery’s decision to deny York and Latham’s appeals. It presents that decision as a continuation of his earlier refusal to intervene in the cases of Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, whose execution date had been set after their appeals failed. Avery framed his refusal in the earlier case as being in the best interest of the people of Kansas; the account records that he also denied clemency to York and Latham.

Place in the Chronology

The date falls two months after the execution of Hickock and Smith, which the narrative describes earlier. By noting Avery’s subsequent denial of clemency and the June 22 executions, the book situates the York and Latham case within the same period of state-authorized capital punishment. The date therefore records not only when the two men were executed, but also the consequence of the governor’s decision not to commute their sentences.