Lucius Hightower was executed in Silver City, New Mexico on November 13, 1916 for the murder of his wife. In his final statement, the condemned man forgave all watching the hanging, said he had made his peace with his Creator, and exhorted the spectators to live a "Christian life."

The trapdoor was sprung and in a particularly horrific spectacle, Hightower’s head was yanked and cut from his body by the noose. This inadvertent decapitation was attributed to the condemned man’s immense weight, which exceeded 200 pounds.

Notably, this was not the first time in New Mexico history that a man had been decapitated in a hanging, at least one other had occurred at the execution of  "Black Jack" Ketchum in 1901.

Hightower had been convicted of the murder of his wife and the New Mexico Supreme Court affirmed the conviction. Present at the execution was Hightower’s father-in-law. He stated after the hanging that the execution was "just as he would have had it," and that he had personally felt the need to avenge his daughter’s death.