On the cold and dusty morning of Friday, September 5, 1930, Panzram was taken from his cell for the last time at 5:55 a.m. and escorted to the gallows. A handful of newspapermen and a dozen guards acted as witnesses.
“Here they come!” yelled someone in the crowd.
Carl’s demeanor was rebellious as always. He cursed his own mother for bringing him into this world and the “whole damned human race!” Escorted by two U.S. Marshals, he walked briskly to the wooden scaffold “with teeth clenched, defiantly facing the crowd of officials, newspaper men and guards gathered in the enclosure.” He climbed the 13 steps to the platform and stood erect as the Marshals attempted to place a black hood over his head.
Before they completed their task, Panzram spat in the executioner’s face and snarled: “Hurry up you bastard, I could kill 10 men while you’re fooling around!” After the hood was secured, the Marshals stepped back without delay, and at exactly 6:03 a.m. the trap doors sprung open with a crash. Carl dropped five and a half feet down. His large body jerked repeatedly and swung from side to side in the sudden silence. He was pronounced dead by Dr.Justin K. Fuller at 6:18 a.m.
After Panzram was removed from the gallows, an autopsy was performed at the prison hospital. His body remained unclaimed and later that same day, he was carted over to the prison cemetery in a wheelbarrow. The only identification on his tombstone is the number “31614”.
