Carl Panzram

Carl Panzram appears in the account as a repeat killer whose violence inside Leavenworth led directly to his execution. In 1929, after confessing to the killings of twenty-one people and declaring, “I have no conscience,” he beat a member of the prison staff to death. He was sentenced to be hanged inside the penitentiary, placing his final days in the care of its warden, T. B. White.

Violence and Imprisonment

Panzram’s record joined confessed violence outside the prison to lethal violence within it. His claim that he had no conscience is presented alongside the specific fact that he had confessed to slaying twenty-one people; the account then gives his killing of a staff member as the act that brought a death sentence inside Leavenworth. It does not supply the staff member’s name or further details of the assault.

Execution at Leavenworth

At sunrise on September 5, 1930, T. B. White took Panzram from his cell to newly built gallows. White ensured that his two boys were not present when the noose was placed around Panzram’s neck. Panzram urged the executioners to hurry, saying, “I could hang a dozen men while you’re fooling around.” At 6:03 a.m., the trap opened and he died by hanging.

Significance

Panzram’s execution is also a turning point in T. B. White’s experience as warden. Although White opposed capital punishment, he was responsible for overseeing the hanging, a grim duty the account compares with work his father had performed in Texas. The execution was the first time White had helped end a human life. Panzram’s final scene thus registers both the consequence of his violence and the burden imposed on the official charged with carrying out his sentence.