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Sitts, Executed In 1947, Killed Lawman

Written by DeadGirl
Saturday, 26 August 2006
August 26, 2006 By: JOE KAFKA South Dakota Associated Press Writer The man with the dubious distinction of being the first and only person in South Dakota to be executed in the electric chair lies buried in an unmarked grave in an unspecified cemetery in Sioux Falls, killed by the state after a two-week reign of terror. It has been 59 years since George Sidney Sitts, 33, was put to death. He was the last person executed in South Dakota. Fifteen others sentenced to death were hung. Sitts was executed for killing state criminal agent Thomas Matthews and was not put on trial for killing Butte County Sheriff Dave Malcolm; Sitts confessed, however, to killing Malcolm. The first of four electric shocks was applied to Sitts at 12:10 a.m. on April 8, 1947. The murderer, who had a long criminal record, was officially pronounced dead at 12:15 a.m. by warden G. Norton Jameson, less than six hours after Sitts ate a hearty meal of chow mein. Jameson later would say that Sitts was in a good frame of mind after his dinner, which also included bread and butter, ice cream, and tea with sugar, all things he asked for. He also was given a piece of cake, which he had not requested. "How was the meal, George?" Jameson asked when visiting Sitts. Sitts responded, "Fine dinner. I enjoyed it." Later Jameson checked on Sitts again to see how he was doing. "Getting along fine," was the terse reply. Moments before the first shock of 2,300 volts, a hooded Sitts mutters his last words: "In my experience, this is the first time the authorities ever helped me escape prison." Forty-four invited witnesses watched Sitts die. Most were law officers, prison guards and officials. Included in the audience were six newspapermen and three doctors. Floyd Short, a state investigator from Lemmon, volunteered to throw the switch carrying electricity to Sitts. Short had been a friend of the two South Dakota lawmen who were murdered on a Lawrence County highway. Ironically, Short himself had been charged with murder for the fatal shooting of a Harding County ranch hand who busted out of jail in 1930 after being arrested for rustling sheep; Short, however, was acquitted. Just two minutes elapsed from the time Sitts was led from his cell to the electric chair, strapped in and shocked. A $3.55 cent football helmet containing an electrode and wet sponge was placed on his shaved head. He wore a blindfold under the hood that had been draped over the helmet. Immediately after Sitts was killed, a funeral service was held at the prison and then a doctor removed his corneas. Despite his belligerent behavior while awaiting execution, Sitts had agreed to donate his corneas to a New York eye bank. None of the condemned man's relatives attended the execution. His mother, Mildred Rose of Cornelius, Ore., had last visited him several months earlier. His prison stay was short: one year and eight days. But Sitts preferred death to life in prison. He revealed that choice in an exchange of letters with a Louisiana prisoner who had earned the nickname of "The Insulated Man" when the first attempt to electrocute him failed. "I'd prefer to die rather than spend a lifetime in prison," Sitts wrote his criminal colleague. Although Sitts was a bitter man during his time on death row, he once wrote his mother in jest to say he was loafing in prison. "This is the easiest year of my life," he penned. "I don't have to do a thing." If Sitts had been given life in prison -- for which parole is not an option in South Dakota -- and was still alive, he would be 92. Sitts was born in LeRoy, Minn., and was regarded among his grade-school peers as likely to achieve success. He was later remembered in his hometown as a quiet, well-mannered boy who hurried home from school to do chores for an ailing grandmother with whom he lived. Sitts also was described as a good student and avid reader of lurid fiction, frontier exploits and criminal deeds. His boyhood ambition was to be a boxer, and he later boxed under the name "Kid Kramer" in bouts at St. Paul, Minn., Sioux City, Iowa, San Francisco and other places. Sitts also loved guns and became a crack shot. His first run-in with the law came at 19 when he spent 90 days in an Iowa jail for carrying concealed weapons and receiving stolen property. Three years later, he was given a 10-year sentence in Minnesota for burglary. Sitts was paroled in 1941 but was returned to prison the next year for violating parole. He was released again in 1944 at the age of 31 and moved to Portland, Ore., to take a job. Sitts married at some point, but once told a reporter that he'd separated from his wife years earlier. In late 1945, Sitts traveled to Minneapolis to see a girlfriend but learned that she had moved to Texas. Trying to get money to follow her, he held up a liquor store and killed the clerk, Erik Johansson, on Dec. 12, 1945. Sitts was arrested about 60 miles away, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was given a life sentence. While in jail and awaiting transfer to prison, he escaped with three other men by sawing through the bars with a hacksaw blade. Sitts stole a car two days later and headed for South Dakota, where he eventually would shoot and kill the two lawmen near Spearfish. He was captured Feb. 5, 1946, near Lysite, Wyo., after mistaking law officers for ranchers. He had terrorized western South Dakota for two weeks. It took a jury just two hours and 17 minutes to find Sitts guilty of murdering Matthews and recommend execution. Nine days later, Circuit Judge Charles Hayes would order Sitts put to death. The condemned man showed no emotion as the sentence was issued. http://www.yankton.net/stories/082606/news_20060826020.shtml

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Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries