The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of Oklahoma before 1972, when capital punishment was briefly abolished by the Supreme Court's ruling in Furman v. Georgia.[1] For people executed by Oklahoma after the restoration of capital punishment by the Supreme Court's ruling in Gregg v. Georgia (1976), see List of people executed in Oklahoma.
In 1915, Oklahoma adopted electrocution as its main form of capital punishment, with a designated execution chamber being added to the state penitentiary in McAlester.[2] From that year to 1972, 83 prisoners (all male) were executed in the state penitentiary. 82 were electrocuted; one of the prisoners, sentenced to death by the federal government under the "Lindbergh law", was hanged instead at his request.[3] (Hanging was retained as an alternative method.[4])
| Henry Bookman | Black | 28 | 10 December 1915 | McIntosh | Murder | Richard Hardin, white[5] | Williams |
| Cecil Towery | Black | 22 | 6 November 1916 | McIntosh | Murder-Robbery | Charles Vaughn, white[6] | |
| Chester Taylor | Black | 44 | 13 April 1917 | Creek | Murder | ||
| Charley Young | Black | 26 | Tillman | Murder | |||
| Willie Williams | Black | 35 | Muskogee | Murder | |||
| John Prather | Black | 26 | 3 May 1918 | Pittsburg | Murder | Charles Chapman, black (cellmate)[7] | |
| James Brown | Black | 34 | 8 November 1918 | Muskogee | Murder | ||
| T. R. Braught | White | 29 | 23 May 1919 | Creek | Murder | Otis Robbin, white[8] | Walton |
| Monroe Betterton | White | 48 | 9 July 1920 | Craig | Murder | Elzadah Betterton, white (wife)[9] | |
| John Ledbetter | Native American | 31 | 25 February 1921 | Muskogee | Murder | Robert Moreland, race unknown[10] | |
| Robert Blakely | White | 39 | Effie May Allford, white[11] | ||||
| Eli Thomas | Black | 22 | 15 July 1921 | Le Flore | Murder | ||
| Steve Sabo | White | 50 | 17 March 1922 | Coal | Murder-Rape | Sophia Sabo, 19, white (niece)[12] | |
| Sam Watkins | White | 39 | 5 May 1922 | Atoka | Murder-Rape | Cora Jones, white[13] | |
| Aaron Harvey | White | 21 | 13 January 1924 | McCurtain | Murder | Five persons, all white[14] | Trapp |
| Jack Pope | White | 45 | |||||
| Richard Birkes | White | 29 | 5 September 1924 | Craig | Murder-Robbery | Frank Pitts, white[15] | |
| Leroy Scott | Black | 22 | 29 May 1925 | Pittsburg | Murder | Frank Daniels, white[16] | |
| Johnnie Washington | Black | 29 | 4 December 1925 | Jackson | Murder | ||
| Theodore Bruster | Black | 21 | 29 June 1928 | Muskogee | Murder-Robbery | William Heeman, white[17] | Johnston |
| Walter Wigger | White | 31 | Ottawa | Murder | Ruth Harris, white (lover) | ||
| Willie O'Neil | Black | 27 | Oklahoma | Murder-Robbery | Mark Hipscher, white | ||
| James Forrest | Black | 23 | 17 July 1930 | Stephens | Rape | Female, white[18] | Holloway |
| Tom Guest | White | 48 | Pottawatomie | Murder-Robbery | Bailey Browder, white | ||
| E. S. Hembree | Native American | 32 | 17 April 1931 | Stephens | Rape | Leota Bosley, 23, white[19] | Murray |
| Paul Cole | White | 33 | 10 July 1931 | Seminole | Murder | Ernest ..rby, white[20] | |
| Bennie Nichols | Black | 31 | 21 August 1931 | Pontotoc | Murder-Robbery | Jack Hornton, white[21] | |
| Henry Lovett | White | 39 | 25 September 1931 | Canadian | Murder-Robbery | Dee Foliart, white[22] | |
| Martin Keeney | White | 49 | 11 March 1932 | Oklahoma | Murder | ||
| A. M. Harris | White | 49 | 17 June 1932 | Oklahoma | Murder | ||
| Ira J. Adler[23] | White | 50 | 19 August 1932 | Blaine | Murder | Two relatives, both white | |
| Charles Davis | Black | 42 | Male, white (deputy sheriff) | ||||
| Ivory Covington | Black | 25 | 27 January 1933 | Choctaw | Murder-Robbery | ||
| Nathan Rightsell | White | 27 | 24 February 1933 | Choctaw | Murder | ||
| Charles Lattimer | White | 29 | 24 March 1933 | Comanche | Murder | Female, white (wife)[24] | |
| Proctor McDonald | White | 24 | 5 May 1933 | Creek | Murder-Robbery | Raymond Butler, 8, white[25] | |
| Joe Martin | White | 54 | Noble | Murder | Pete Von Uearop, white | ||
| Albert Ellis | White | 25 | Carter | Robbery | John Weber and his family, all white | ||
| Luke Nichols | White | 44 | 19 May 1933 | Alfalfa | Murder | Harriet Crawford, 26, white (lover)[26] | |
| Claude Oliver | White | 28 | 23 August 1933 | Murray | Murder | Della Oliver, 15, white (George's wife)[27] | |
| George Oliver | White | 18 | |||||
| Ted Patton | White | 25 | 20 October 1933 | Sequoyah | Murder | Robert Wall, 19, white[28] | |
| Charley Dumas | Black | 29 | Coal | Rape | |||
| William Johnson | Black | 28 | 10 November 1933 | Muskogee | Murder | Mary Wolfenberger, white[29] | |
| Tom Morris | Black | 40 | 24 November 1933 | Pittsburg | Murder | Mr. and Mrs. Joe House, both white[30] | |
| Earl Quinn | White | 29 | Garfield | Murder-Rape | Jessie Griffith, 24, white[31] | ||
| Frank Clark | Black | 60 | 19 January 1934 | McCurtain | Murder | Dan and Anna Stiles, both white[32] [33] | |
| Ernest Oglesby | White | 27 | 4 January 1935 | Oklahoma | Murder | Douglas Gates, white (Oklahoma City policeman)[34] | |
| Robert Cargo | White | 21 | 24 May 1935 | Oklahoma | Murder-Robbery | A. L. Luke, white[35] | Marland |
| Alfred Rowan | Black | 30 | 20 September 1935 | Jackson | Murder | Roy Gentry, white[36] | |
| Bun Riley | White | 29 | Pittsburg | Murder | Three persons, all white | ||
| Chester Barrett | White | 37 | Creek | Murder | Three of his children, all white | ||
| Roy Guyton | Black | 25 | 20 March 1936 | Oklahoma | Murder | ||
| James Hargus | White | 26 | 24 April 1936 | Tulsa | Murder | L. D. Mitchell, white (Tulsa police officer)[37] | |
| Arthur Gooch | White | 27 | 19 June 1936 | Federal | Kidnapping | R. N. Baker and H. R. Marks, both white[38] | |
| Leon Siler | White | 22 | 11 June 1937 | Comanche | Murder | J. E. Wilson, white (Grady County deputy sheriff)[39] | |
| Charlie Sands | Native American | 21 | |||||
| Roy Mannon | White | 38 | 1 March 1940 | Wagoner | Murder-Robbery | Jake Skelly, 67, white[40] | Phillips |
| Roger Cunningham | White | 30 | 15 November 1940 | Oklahoma | Murder | Eudora Cunningham, white (wife)[41] | |
| Warren Abby | White | 59 | 29 August 1941 | Custer | Murder | Julia Abby, 78, white (wife)[42] | |
| J. D. Tuggle | White | 23 | 9 February 1942 | Garvin | Murder-Robbery | Mr. and Mrs. D. Wilburn Jones, both white (uncle and aunt)[43] | |
| Finley Porter | Black | 40 | 16 April 1943 | Pittsburg | Murder | L. Z. Beacham, black (cellmate)[44] | Kerr |
| Hiram Prather | White | 35 | 14 July 1943 | Pittsburg | Murder | Jess Dunn, white (warden)[45] | |
| Amos Johnson | Black | 30 | 23 March 1945 | Lincoln | Murder | Victoria and Martha Gorski, 38 and 3, both white[46] | |
| Cliff Norman | Black | 30 | 9 November 1945 | Murray | Rape | Female, white[47] | |
| Alfred Bingham | White | 40 | 31 May 1946 | Tulsa | Murder | Mary Bingham, 30, white (wife)[48] | |
| Mose Johnson | Black | 33 | 1 November 1946 | Pittsburg | Murder | L. C. Smalley, race unknown[49] | |
| Harlan Broyles | White | 32 | 30 January 1947 | Seminole | Murder | Eric Nicholson, 35, white (deputy sheriff)[50] | Turner |
| Lewis Grayson | Black | 31 | 25 May 1948 | Muskogee | Rape | Female, white | |
| Ben Gould | Black | 40 | 27 September 1948 | Atoka | Murder-Rape-Robbery | Mary Lynn, 57, white[51] | |
| Max Kletke | White | 25 | 6 January 1951 | Oklahoma | Murder | Carl E. Beach, 45, white | |
| Jearell Hathcox | White | 38 | 27 July 1951 | Oklahoma | Murder | Martin Lyle Shaffer, 67, white[52] | Murray |
| Melburn Mott | White | 35 | 21 September 1951 | Tulsa | Murder | Mary Frances Mott, 6, white (daughter)[53] | |
| Carl DeWolf | White | 37 | 17 November 1953 | Tulsa | Murder | Jerry St. Clair, 25, white (Tulsa policeman)[54] | |
| Hurbie Fairris | White | 22 | 18 January 1956 | Oklahoma | Murder | Bennie F. Cravatt, white (detective)[55] | Gary |
| Otto Loel | White | 44 | 11 January 1957 | Oklahoma | Murder | Elizabeth Jeanne Henderson, 31, white[56] | |
| Robert Hendricks | White | 66 | 5 February 1957 | Craig | Murder-Robbery | Rheam Payton, 54, white[57] | |
| Edward Williams | White | 30 | 28 July 1960 | Tulsa | Kidnapping[58] | Tommy Cooke, 24, white | Edmondson |
| James Spence | White | 32 | 31 August 1960 | Cotton | Murder | Female, 19, white[59] | |
| Ray Young | White | 34 | 15 December 1960 | Jackson | Murder | John Barter, white (highway patrolman)[60] | |
| Shelby Doggett | White | 29 | 1 January 1962 | Comanche | Murder-Robbery | Jimmy Lee Lanman, 24, white[61] | |
| Richard Dare | White | 30 | 1 June 1963 | Oklahoma | Murder | Ted Albert, 60, white[62] | Bellmon |
| James French | White | 30 | 10 August 1966 | Pittsburg | Murder | Eddie Shelton, white (cellmate)[63] |