Wikipedia

List of people executed in the United States in 1953

Sixty-three people, sixty male and three female, were executed in the United States in 1953, thirty-nine by electrocution, twenty-one by gas chamber, and three by hanging.[1]

List of people executed in the United States in 1953

[edit]
No. Date of execution Name Age of person Gender Ethnicity State Method Ref.
At execution At offense Age difference
1 January 3, 1953 Turman Galilee Wilson 26 23 3 Male White Washington Hanging [2]
2 Utah Eugene Wilson 22 20 2
3 January 9, 1953 Morris Leland 26 22 4 Oregon Gas chamber [3]
4 Frank Oliver Payne 50 48 2 [1]
5 January 15, 1953 Joseph L. Paonessa 42 39 3 New York Electrocution
6 January 16, 1953 George F. Ross 28 27 1 Ohio
7 January 22, 1953 Stephen DeFoe Lewis 43 42 New York
8 January 23, 1953 Louis Allen Angel 19 18 Ohio
9 January 30, 1953 Albert William Karnes 24 24 0 Oregon Gas chamber
10 February 2, 1953 Robert Gene Dessauer 30 28 2 California [4]
11 February 4, 1953 Darious Daniel Goleman 31 27 4 Texas Electrocution [5]
12 February 6, 1953 Roy Jack Hulen 43 41 2 [1]
13 February 20, 1953 Leandress Riley 32 29 3 Black California Gas chamber [6]
14 Marvin Lucear 38 36 2 Ohio Electrocution [1]
15 February 27, 1953 Abraham Pinkney 67 66 1 Georgia
16 Roosevelt Spears 48 44 4 Kentucky
17 March 19, 1953 Emanuel Scott Jr. 28 25 3 Illinois
18 March 20, 1953 Albert C. Allen 25 22 District of Columbia [7]
19 March 21, 1953 Samuel James Gasway 35 33 2 White Texas [8]
20 March 30, 1953 Dominick Daverse 40 34 6 Pennsylvania [9]
21 Joseph Stephenson Phillips 23 22 1 Black
22 April 10, 1953 John Solomon 47 45 2 Louisiana [10]
23 April 13, 1953 Clayton Octave Fouquette 39 34 5 White Nevada Gas chamber [1]
24 April 16, 1953 Jesse Starr 26 24 2 Black Georgia Electrocution [11]
25 Frank Wojcik 56 54 White New York [1]
26 April 17, 1953 Diamond Reed 34 32 Black California Gas chamber [12]
27 Oshel Gardner Jr. 23 22 1 White West Virginia Electrocution [13]
28 May 1, 1953 Lafayette Miller 22 20 2 Black North Carolina Gas chamber [14]
29 May 8, 1953 Amos Patrick 34 33 1 Georgia Electrocution [1]
30 May 15, 1953 Lovell Barclay 37 36 California Gas chamber [15]
31 May 18, 1953 Ollie Melvern Carey 44 40 4 White Pennsylvania Electrocution [16]
32 Charles Edward Homeyer 55 52 3 [17]
33 May 22, 1953 Dario E. Amaya 21 20 1 Hispanic California Gas chamber [18]
34 May 29, 1953 Ulas Quilling 52 50 2 Black Missouri [19]
35 Raleigh Speller 52 46 6 North Carolina [20]
36 Clyde Brown 20 17 3 [20]
37 June 10, 1953 Jack Farmer 53 51 2 White Texas Electrocution [21]
38 June 19, 1953 Julius Rosenberg 35 32 3 Federal government [22]
39 Ethel Rosenberg 37 34 Female
40 July 6, 1953 Jimmie Lee Brown 30 28 2 Male Black Florida [1]
41 July 10, 1953 Kenneth Boyd 23 20 3 Missouri Gas chamber
42 Robert Gemmell 29 28 1 White Ohio Electrocution [23]
43 July 16, 1953 Donald Hugh Snyder 25 24 New York [1]
44 July 23, 1953 William H. Draper 34 30 4 [24]
45 August 14, 1953 Eddie Jackson 48 46 2 Black Louisiana [1]
46 August 24, 1953 Robert Remer Strickland 22 20 White Georgia [25]
47 August 25, 1953 Lott Glover 31 30 1 Black Maryland Hanging [26]
48 August 28, 1953 Reuben Myhand 20 19 Alabama Electrocution [27]
49 Samuel Bowens 23 Unknown Unknown Georgia [28]
50 September 4, 1953 Earle Dennison 56 55 1 Female White Alabama [29]
51 September 7, 1953 Ed Brooks 61 60 Male Black Florida [30]
52 October 7, 1953 Louis Allison 23 20 3 Texas [1]
53 October 16, 1953 Lloyd Gomez 29 26 Hispanic California Gas chamber [31]
54 October 23, 1953 Johnnie D. Harrison 51 50 1 Black [32]
55 October 30, 1953 John Chauncey Lawrence 38 37 White [1]
56 November 6, 1953 Lloyd Ray Daniels 22 17 5 Black North Carolina [33]
57 Bennie Daniels 21 4
58 November 14, 1953 Willie Burgess 56 Unknown Unknown Georgia Electrocution [1]
59 November 17, 1953 Carl Austin DeWolf 37 30 7 White Oklahoma [34]
60 December 18, 1953 Robert Calhoun 30 29 1 Black Georgia [35]
61 Carl Austin Hall 34 34 0 White Federal government Gas chamber [36]
62 Bonnie Emily Heady 41 41 Female
63 December 23, 1953 Isaiah Harris 33 33 Male Black Georgia Electrocution [37]

Demographics

[edit]
Gender
Male 60 95%
Female 3 5%
Ethnicity
White 31 49%
Black 30 48%
Hispanic 2 3%
State
California 8 13%
Georgia 8 13%
New York 5 8%
North Carolina 5 8%
Texas 5 8%
Federal government 4 6%
Ohio 4 6%
Pennsylvania 4 6%
Oregon 3 5%
Alabama 2 3%
Florida 2 3%
Louisiana 2 3%
Missouri 2 3%
Washington 2 3%
District of Columbia 1 2%
Illinois 1 2%
Kentucky 1 2%
Maryland 1 2%
Nevada 1 2%
Oklahoma 1 2%
West Virginia 1 2%
Method
Electrocution 39 62%
Gas chamber 21 33%
Hanging 3 5%
Month
January 9 14%
February 7 11%
March 5 8%
April 6 10%
May 9 14%
June 3 5%
July 5 8%
August 5 8%
September 2 3%
October 4 6%
November 4 6%
December 4 6%
Age
10–19 1 2%
20–29 23 37%
30–39 19 30%
40–49 9 14%
50–59 9 14%
60–69 2 3%
Total 63 100%

Executions in recent years

[edit]
Number of executions
1954 83
1953 63
1952 81
Total 227

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Executions in the U.S. 1608-2002: The ESPY File" (PDF). Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
  2. ^ "Hoax Wire Fails to Halt Execution". The News Tribune via newspapers.com. January 5, 1953. p. 1.
  3. ^ "State v. Leland". Justia Law.
  4. ^ "People v. Dessauer". Justia Law.
  5. ^ "Killer, Unafraid, Dies At Huntsville". Longview News-Journal via newspapers.com. February 4, 1953. p. 1.
  6. ^ "People v. Riley". FindLaw.
  7. ^ "Allen v. United States". Justia Law.
  8. ^ "Gasway Executed". Pampa Daily News via newspapers.com. March 22, 1953. p. 18.
  9. ^ "Two Convicted Killers Electrocuted At Rockview". Standard-Speaker via newspapers.com. March 30, 1953. p. 1.
  10. ^ "State v. Solomon". Justia Law.
  11. ^ "Starr v. State". CaseMine.
  12. ^ "People v. Reed". Justia Law.
  13. ^ "Electrocution Ends Life of Cabbie Slayer". Williamson Daily News. April 18, 1953. p. 3.
  14. ^ "People v. Reed". CaseMine.
  15. ^ "People v. Barclay". FindLaw.
  16. ^ "Officer Thomas Mathews Remembered". Abington Township Police Department.
  17. ^ "Commonwealth v. Homeyer". Justia Law.
  18. ^ "People v. Amaya". Stanford Law School.
  19. ^ "State v. Quilling". Justia Law.
  20. ^ a b "2 Men in N.C. Die In Gas Chamber". The Afro American. June 6, 1953. p. 1.
  21. ^ "Execution Date Set For Farmer". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal via newspapers.com. April 4, 1953. p. 13.
  22. ^ "Execution of the Rosenbergs". The Guardian. June 20, 1953.
  23. ^ "Gemmel Dies In Chair For Murder". Marysville Journal-Tribune via newspapers.com. July 11, 1953. p. 1.
  24. ^ "Draper Execution Scheduled for July". Democrat and Chronicle via newspapers.com. June 3, 1953. p. 17.
  25. ^ "Strickland v. State". Justia Law.
  26. ^ "Lott Glover hanged for hold-up Slaying". The Baltimore African-American. August 29, 1953. p. 3.
  27. ^ "Myhand v. State". Justia Law.
  28. ^ "Husband dies in Ga. chair". The Afro American. September 5, 1953. p. 7.
  29. ^ "Dennison v. State". Justia Law.
  30. ^ "Negro Slayer Executed". St. Petersburg Times. September 8, 1953. p. 13.
  31. ^ "People v. Gomez". Stanford Law School.
  32. ^ "People v. Harrison". Stanford Law School.
  33. ^ "State v. Daniels". Justia Law.
  34. ^ "DeWolf v. State". Justia Law.
  35. ^ "Calhoun v. State". Justia Law.
  36. ^ "2 KIDNAP-SLAYERS DIE IN GAS CHAMBER; Hall and Mrs. Heady Executed 81 Days After the Killing of Greenlease Boy". The New York Times. December 18, 1953.
  37. ^ "Harris Found Guilty; To Get Chair Dec. 23". Waycross Journal-Herald. December 2, 1953. p. 1.
Preceded by
1952 		   List of people executed   
   in the United States in   
1953 		Succeeded by
1954