Gallows used to hang bootlegger who SMILED as he faced death at one of America's last public executions

 


Gallows used to hang bootlegger who SMILED as he faced death at one of America's last public executions in 1928 are discovered in an old barn

The gallows used to hang an infamous prohibition-era gangster in one of America's last public executions have been discovered in a dusty old barn.


Bootlegger Charlie Birger was hanged in the town of Benton on April 19, 1928. He famously went to his death with a grin telling the crowd who had gathered to watch: 'It's a beautiful world.'


He had been sentenced to death for ordering the murder of an Illinois town's mayor and was one of the last people to be publicly hanged in the state of Illinois.


Now, some 85 years after his death, a family has discovered the gallows used in his execution have been uncovered in a  barn near the city of Grand Tower, about 50 miles from Benton.


They contacted administrators of the Franklin County Jail Museum in Benton, which has many items related to Birger, including his machine guns and bullet proof vest.


The location of the gallows was last known in 1973, when they were housed in the Jackson County courthouse basement.


They were pulled out for a Fourth of July event that year but then the courthouse lost track of their whereabouts, according to WSIL-TV.


Preservationists had been trying to find them for decades, but had no luck until now.


The museum will now house the real gallows inside, while a replica of them, which were built in 1995, will remain outside the building.


GOING TO THE GALLOWS WITH A GRIN: CHARLIE BIRGER


Charlie Birger, a Russian immigrant whose real name was Shachna Itzik Birger, was executed on April 19, 1928 after spending a year in jail.


According to the jail museum, he was a well-liked 'protector,' known for tossing coins to kids and even sharing his wealth among a few neighbors in the southern Illinois community of Harrisburg.


In the mid 1920s he famously went to war with the Ku Klux Klan who supported supported prohibition viewing alcohol as 'un-American'.


To law enforcement, he was known for for his bootlegging business, which he ran out of a speakeasy called the Shady Rest.


The business is what led him to be convicted in plotting the murder of Joseph Adams, who was the mayor of West City, Illinois.


Adams got into the middle of a turf war between Birger's gang and another group of bootleggers and as violence escalated, Adams wound up dead.


He was allegedly shot to death at the front door of his home by two of Birgers' men.


Birger was later arrested for plotting Adams' murder.


Some say Birger's smile on the day of his hanging could have been a result of the dosage of morphine he was provided just before he walked to the gallows.


Others claim, however, that Birger had actually declined the drugs.


The last person to be publicly executed in the United States was Rainey Bethea, a young black man who had confessed to the rape and murder of a 70-year-old white woman named Lischia Edwards.


An estimated 20,000 people turned out to watch as he was put to death in Owensboro, Kentucky.


The two men chosen to perform the hanging were Arthur Hash, a former Louisville police officer, who offered his services for free and a farmer from Epworth, Illinois, named G. Phil Hanna.

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