George Maledon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Maledon (June 10th, 1830-June 5th, 1911) was a hangman aptly nicknamed "The Prince of Hangmen", who served in the federal court of Judge Isaac Parker, who has been dubbed "The Hanging Judge".
[edit] Early life
Maledon was born on June 10th, 1830, in Germany. His family migrated to Detroit, Michigan while he was still a child. He moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas soon after his 18th birthday, and began working as a police officer. He held this position for many years. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Arkansas Light Artillery, serving in the 1st Battalion.
[edit] After the civil war, becoming a "Hangman"
After the wars end, Maledon returned to Fort Smith, where he began working as a Deputy Sheriff and as a Jailer. In 1871, he was appointed as a Special Deputy in charge of executions. It would be in this position that he would become best known. Over the next twenty two years, Maledon would carry out more than sixty executions, in addition to shooting five other prisoners during escape attempts.
Between 1873 and 1876, all executions were open to the public. This drew thousands for each execution, and Maledon became known as the "Prince of Hangmen". On September 3rd, 1875, Maledon hanged six men at once, something unheard of in government executions. The event was highly publicised, and reporters from Little Rock, Kansas City and St Louis flocked to Fort Smith. In 1878, a 16 foot high fence was built around the gallows to make the hangings more private, and no longer open to the public.
Maledon once commented, when asked if he was ever haunted by the ghosts of those he'd hanged, "No. I reckon I hung them too".
In 1885, after his disagreeing with a judgement in a particular case, Maledon retired, and for a time took his "art" of hanging on the road. The last execution by hanging in Fort Smith occurred on July 30th, 1896. The original gallows were torn down and burned. However, new gallows were constructed in 1981, and the site is now a national historic site. In 1905, in failing health, Maledon entered an "Old Soldiers Home" in Humboldt, Tennessee. Maledon died in 1911, just shy of his 81st birthday, of natural causes. He is buried in the Johnson City Cemetery. It has been said that Maledon performed more executions[citation needed] than any other person in U.S. history.
