Barton Kay Kirkham (December 1936 – June 7,
1958) was a deserter of the United States Air Force who was discharged
in 1955 after committing a robbery in Colorado. In 1956, he was
sentenced to death after the murder of two grocery store clerks during
an armed robbery in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Kirkham chose to die by hanging to generate
publicity and become an inconvenience to the state of Utah. Though an
attempt was made to appeal his conviction by questioning his sanity,
prison officials noted that Kirkham's defiant attitude remained
remorseless until shortly before his execution. His hanging at Utah
State Prison in 1958 was the first to be carried out by the state in
46 years.
Background
Barton Kay Kirkham was the eldest of five children
raised by a Mormon family in Salt Lake City. He was a fan of bop music
and described himself as "a rebel." Kirkham left his family's church
life and school in the 11th grade and joined the United States Air
Force. After 18 months, he committed a robbery while absent without
leave in Colorado, and was given an undesirable discharge from the
force. Kirkham spent the next 9 months in a reformatory and was
paroled in July 1956.
Murders
On the night of August 12, 1956, Kirkham entered
the Nibley Park Market grocery store in Salt Lake City to rob it. When
he thought 50-year-old storekeeper David Avon Frame was not giving him
all of the money that he had, Kirkham took Frame to the back of the
store. There he found 37-year-old Ruth Holmes Webster, mother of four
children in Sandy, Utah. Kirkham had them kneel on the floor and shot
them in the head. He netted $54 from the robbery.
Kirkham was apprehended the next morning after he
forced a brother and sister to take him on a joyride through Provo
Canyon. When later asked about his motive for killing Frame and
Webster, he said, "Man, I don't know..."
Trial and sentencing
The first-degree murder trial commenced on December
12, 1956 with Judge Martin M. Larson presiding over the case. Kirkham
was defended by attorneys Lamar C. Duncan and Wayne L. Black. On
December 14, Kirkham was found guilty of murdering Frame and faced a
mandatory death penalty. He was never tried for the murder of Webster.
Kirkham was remanded to Utah State Prison on January 11, 1957 as the
sentencing phase of the trial proceeded. Kirkham's attorneys
immediately filed an appeal with the Utah Supreme Court. The appeal
claimed that their client's mental state was not properly taken into
account. On March 25, 1958, the court upheld Kirkham's conviction and
denied his request for a rehearing, sending his case back for
sentencing. Kirkham said he was certain he would be executed and
resented his attorneys' "trying to prolong the waiting and stalling
around."
On April 26, 1958, Judge Larson sentenced Kirkham
to death. When asked to select between the option of execution by
firing squad and hanging, he responded: "What costs most?" Kirkham
said he chose to be hanged "because of the publicity... the novelty...
to put the state to more inconvenience." It would be the first hanging
in Utah since 1912. Kirkham said that he hoped "to set some sort of
record."
I heard the shooters get to keep the guns, and they're not getting
anything free from me.
—Barton Kay Kirkham
Incarceration
While on death row at Utah State Prison, Kirkham
followed newspaper articles and legal briefs of his case and read
psychiatric texts and medical journals. Warden Marcell Graham
described him as a good prisoner who caused little trouble. Kirkham
grew out his hair and beard for 13 months until ordered to get a
haircut. He then shaved himself bald to annoy the prison officials.
Kirkham maintained a hardened image and reportedly laughed off
concepts of mercy or religious salvation. He claimed to have no regret
over the killings.
There was so much hate in me then and it keeps building up and there
was no release for it and I did not care what happened. The Doctors
said I felt justified when I killed those people and they are right.
I did. It was revenge I was after. The love that I was denied
because my parents spent so much time doing church work and they
still do, and forcing me to stay home and lead the life they wanted
me to live. I got my revenge and I am not sorry now and never will
be... I've had enough of it, I want to die. I'm fed up with it all.
I did kill those people to hurt my parents and their good standing
in the church. Who failed me? It was not only my parents but myself
and a lot of others. My life is a real mess now and I will be glad
when it is all over with.
—Barton Kay Kirkham, Written statement before his execution
On June 4, 1958, Kirkham appeared before the state
pardons board for a final hearing for clemency. His attorneys had
planned to demonstrate that he was insane with the help of
psychiatrists. Kirkham initially told the board that he was a loner
and felt "no remorse or anything like that." In the final minutes of
the hearing, he broke out into an appeal that he would prefer
involuntary commitment in a mental institution over capital punishment.
The board declined to commute his sentence.
I don't want life. My parents are the ones who want me commuted.
They think you can be rehabilitated in prison... but rehabilitation
comes from within.
—Barton Kay Kirkham, May 1958
Execution
Kirkham was visited by his parents during the night
before his hanging. Prison guards noted that he changed his demeanor
as he received his parents warmly and was seen by Mormon and Roman
Catholic chaplains. His mother was near collapse. Kirkham watched a
movie with his parents and said farewell shortly before midnight.
Kirkham ordered a last meal of pizza and ice cream, telling the prison
steward that "you get cheese, meat and everything in one meal. Not so
much fuss." In the auditorium of Utah State Prison, Kirkham ate his
pizza and played classical music on a piano in the company of the
chaplains, news reporters and deputy sheriffs. He joked about his
impending execution and commented on his keyboard skills: "I'll just
have to practice more."
When you live with the thought of dying so long, you get used to it.
I may get shook up at the last minute, but I don't think so.
—Barton Kay Kirkham, May 1958
At dawn on June 7, 1958, Kirkham was driven two
miles to a pasture on the prison's farm. After a black hood was placed
over his head, Kirkham was led up a ramp to a newly-built gallows. His
drop had been measured at 6 feet to accommodate his reported weight of
200 pounds. A professional hangman from the Northwest was paid $400
for his services. Kirkham trembled slightly as the hangman fitted a
noose around his neck and placed the knot under his left ear. As
directed by state law, Sheriff George Beckstead walked up to Kirkham
to receive his last words. At 4:57 a.m. Mountain Standard Time, the
official time of dawn, Beckstead signaled the hangman to pull an iron
lever, opening the trap door under Kirkham. The Kirkham family did not
come to witness the execution. Prison physician W. C. Knott climbed on
a stepladder to examine Kirkham's hanging body, which was concealed
from view by burlap and canvas hung under the 11-foot-high platform.
He was pronounced dead at 5:11 a.m. in the last hanging to be
conducted by the state of Utah.
No subsequent inmate had been executed by the state
in this manner by February 1980, when the Utah State Legislature
replaced the option of hanging with lethal injection.
I've asked God to forgive me.
—Last words of Barton Kay Kirkham, June 7, 1958.
