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James Cole’s long mile to the gallows
Cole confessed to killing Sophronia Ford in 1898 and was hanged after a failed effort to save his life, newspapers reported.
- On March 24, 1899, James Cole, 38, was executed in Burleigh County, North Dakota, for the December 1898 murder of Sophronia Ford, 16, whom he shot in a fit of jealous rage.
- Enraged by rumors Ford had another lover, Cole shot her three times after she refused his marriage proposal on December 12, 1898, then turned himself in without offering a defense.
- Cole slept three hours before execution, eating ham, eggs, toast and three cigars at sunrise; just before 6 a.m., Chief Deputy Patterson promised he would be buried beside Ford if he died bravely.
- Dressed in a black suit, Cole walked alone onto the scaffold with arms strapped behind his back; "Let her go, boys" were his last words before he fell seven feet and died four minutes later.
- The Emmons County Record called it "the most cold-blooded, brutal and deliberate murder" in the state, yet Cole somehow touched the hearts of everyone who knew him; Sheriff Bogue refused to pull the trap himself.
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Duluth News Tribune+18 Reposted by 18 other sources
James Cole’s long mile to the gallows
BISMARCK, N.D. — The days leading up to James Cole’s 1899 execution brought a flurry of activity to save the condemned man’s life. Loyal friends petitioned the North Dakota governor's office to commute his death sentence. “But when Cole was seen about it he said that he had no such desire, and that if they were friends of his they would let matters take their course,” The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead reported. Methodist minister James Anderson prayed…
·Cherokee County, United States
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Total News Sources19
Leaning Left0Leaning Right9Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution64% Right
Bias Distribution
- 64% of the sources lean Right
64% Right
C 36%
R 64%
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