A. G. Brown and Moses Chambers, prisoners 9178 and 3250
Creator: Kansas State Penitentiary
Date: January 30, 1901
This photograph shows inmates, A. G. Brown, prisoner #9178 and Moses Chambers, prisoner #3250. A.G. Brown was received at the Kansas State Penitentiary on December 22, 1899 from Oklahoma for forgery. Inmate Moses Chambers was received on May 14, 1884 from Leavenworth County, Kansas for murder and sentenced to death by hanging.

A hanging in Kansas
Creator: Topeka State Journal Company
Date: February 18, 1916
This newspaper article published in the Topeka State Journal illustrates the confusion surrounding the history of state death penalty laws in Kansas. The article concerns the possible execution, under federal law, of a convict at the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth. The article claims that should this execution proceed "Kansas will see its first legal hanging in its history as a state." The article concludes by saying "that there never has been a hanging under state law in Kansas." In fact, between 1862-1888 there were nine legal executions in Kansas under state law, three under military law, and two under federal law. The state repealed its capital punishment law in 1907.

An act concerning crimes and punishments and procedures relating thereto
Creator: Kansas. Legislature
Date: April 22, 1994
The Kansas Legislature passed House Bill 2578 on April 8, 1994. The bill reinstated the death penalty for the crime of capital murder, as defined in the bill. In 1972, the U. S. Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia overturned capital punishment laws in many states, including Kansas. The murder of 19 year old college student Stephanie Schmidt in 1993 prompted reinstatement of the law, ending 22 years of debate. Though opposed to capital punishment, Governor Joan Finney allowed the bill to become law without her signature, April 22, 1994. The absence of the governor's signature is apparent on the official enrolled version of the bill represented here.

An act concerning crimes and punishments and procedures relating thereto
Creator: Kansas. Legislature
Date: January 31, 1985-April 09, 1985
The Kansas Legislature passed H.B. 2135 on April 2, 1985. The bill proposed to reinstate capital punishment in Kansas. In 1972, the U. S. Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia overturned capital punishment laws in many states, including Kansas. Governor John Carlin vetoed the bill, his fourth and final veto of a death penalty bill during his eight year administration. The legislature failed to override the veto. Kansas reinstituted capital punishment in 1994. The cover sheet recording legislative and gubernatorial action on the legislation is included with the vetoed bill.

An act concerning crimes and punishments and procedures relating thereto
Creator: Kansas. Legislature
Date: February 20, 1990
The Kansas Legislature passed Senate Bill 77 in 1990. Known as the "hard-40" bill, the bill allowed for a maximum forty-year prison sentence for persons convicted of premeditated murder. In 1972, the U. S. Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia overturned capital punishment laws in many states, including Kansas. A strong supporter of capital punishment, Governor Mike Hayden signed the forty-year bill after efforts to pass a death penalty bill failed in the legislature. Kansas did not reinstate capital punishment until 1994.

An act defining and providing for the punishment of certain crimes therein named
Creator: Kansas Legislature.
Date: 1861
Chapter 27, Section 1 of the General Laws of the State of Kansas (1861) provides for punishment by death for any person convicted of treason against the state. The legislature enacted the law at its first session ending March 26, 1861. The following year, the Legislature enacted a death penalty for persons convicted of first degree murder. These laws demonstrate the state's initial stance on capital punishment.

An act regulating crimes and punishment of crimes against the persons of individuals
Creator: Kansas Legislature.
Date: 1862
Chapter 33, Section 3 of the General Laws of the State of Kansas (1862) provides for punishment by death for persons convicted of murder in the first degree. The legislature passed the law at its second annual session ending March 6, 1862. The previous year, the legislature passed a death penalty law for persons convicted of treason against the state. These laws demonstrates the state's initial stance on capital punishment.

An act relating to crimes and penalties
Creator: Kansas. Legislature
Date: 1935
With the capital punishment law repealed in 1907, the Kansas Legislature made several unsuccessful attempts at reinstatement in 1927, 1931, and 1933. In 1935, the legislature succeeded in reinstating the death penalty with House Bill 10. This bill file includes several different versions of the bill. The final version of the bill prescribes the punishment of death or life imprisonment for persons convicted of first degree murder. The bill allows the jury trying the case to decide the form of punishment. Although Kansas abolished the death penalty in 1907, no executions by state authority had occurred since 1870. See also, "Punishment for Murder in the First and Second Degree," Laws of Kansas, 1935, Chapter 154.

An act relating to crimes punishable by death
Creator: Kansas. Legislature
Date: 1935
With the capital punishment law repealed in 1907, the Kansas Legislature made several unsuccessful attempts at reinstatement in 1927, 1931, and 1933. In 1935, the legislature succeeded in reinstating the death penalty with House Bill 10. A companion bill, House Bill 11 (1935), prescribed hanging as the method for inflicting the death penalty in all cases. The bill also provided for the executioner, the time and place of execution, and cases of insanity, pregnancy, and escape. Although Kansas abolished the death penalty in 1907, no executions by state authority had occurred since 1870.

An act relating to kidnaping in the first degree
Creator: Kansas. Legislature
Date: 1955
In 1955, the Kansas Legislature expanded the state's capital punishment law with Senate Bill 80 to include the crime of kidnapping. Since the death penalty was reinstated in Kansas in 1935, after its repeal in 1907, only persons convicted of first degree murder were eligible for execution. Senate Bill 80 limits the application of the death penalty to kidnappers who have harmed their captives, though in case of a jury trial the jury is to assign the punishment. While no state-authorized executions occurred in Kansas between 1870-1944, the state executed fifteen persons between 1944-1965.

An act to amend section 8, article 2, of chapter 31 of the general statues of 1901
Creator: Kansas. Legislature
Date: 1907
The Kansas Legislature passed House Bill 66 by January 18 and Governor Edward W. Hoch signed the bill into law on January 30, 1907. The law abolished capital punishment in Kansas by prescribing life imprisonment, instead of the death penalty, as punishment for persons convicted of first degree murder. While executions by state authority were legal in Kansas from 1861-1907, the legislature imposed tighter regulations in 1872 that required the time of execution to be ordered by the governor. Kansas governors between 1872-1907 refused to issue execution orders, as required by law, effectively banning state authorized executions during that period. Governor Hoch was a strong opponent of capital punishment.

An act to punish offences against slave property
Creator: Kansas Territory. Legislative Assembly (1855)
Date: August 29, 1855
This act, approved by the Legislative Assembly of Kansas Territory, August 29, 1855, lists those actions to be considered crimes against slave property. Many of the crimes listed are punishable by death. Some of the crimes include inciting or aiding slave or Negro rebellion (even through publication), helping slaves escape their masters, resisting the arrest of an escaped slave, and the expression of abolitionist opinions. Considered "bogus laws" by free-state supporters, this slave code reflects the first Kansas Legislature's support for slavery and the legislature's adoption of Missouri slave codes for that purpose.

An act to regulate the infliction of the death penalty and to amend an act to establish a code of criminal procedure
Creator: Kansas. Legislature
Date: 1872
Following the controversial, public execution of William Dickson in Leavenworth (1870), the state legislature passed Senate Bill 18 (1872) to regulate procedures for carrying out a death sentence. The act provides that the punishment of death must be by "hanging by the neck." The act also provides that the time of the execution must be ordered by the governor. In effect, this law imposed a ban on state executions since no governor ever ordered an execution between 1872-1907, the year the law was repealed. Dickson's execution would be the last conducted under state law for 73 years.

Capital punishment in Kansas
Creator: Kansas. Office of the Attorney General. Civil Division
Date: March 1, 1974
Staff of the Civil Division of the Kansas Attorney General's Office prepared a legal history of capital punishment in Kansas. This document includes four separate drafts, or versions, of this history. Various lists of persons executed in Kansas are also included. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia (1972) declared many state capital punishment laws unconstitutional, prompting many states, including Kansas, to reconsider their approach to the death penalty.

Capt. Cook brought out of jail
Date: 1859
An illustration of Captain John Cook, a John Brown follower, being brought out of jail and surrounded by soldiers.

Gallows crossbeam fragment
Date: between 1860 and 1865
Fragment of the crossbeam from gallows scaffold. Long rectangular pine block. The beam was part of the scaffold used to execute the conspirators of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. The following individuals were hanged from this scaffold on 7 July 1865: David E. Herold, George A. Atzerodt, Lewis Payne, and Mary Surratt. After the execution, the scaffold was disassembled and housed in the Washington (D.C.) Barracks. While pieces of lumber from the gallows were reused in other projects, the crossbeam was hidden to discourage souvenir hunters. In 1885, the secretary of the Kansas Historical Society wrote to the Quartermaster's Office at the Washington Barracks and requested a piece of the gallows for the Society's collections. Lieutenant Sebree Smith sent this fragment, along with a letter of authentication from a man who worked there when the pieces of the gallows were brought to the barracks.

Gallows, Kansas State Penitentiary, Lansing, Kansas
Date: 1965
This photograph shows the gallows at the Kansas State Penitentiary in Lansing, Kansas. The gallows are now part of the collections of the Kansas History Museum, Topeka.

Governor Andrew Schoeppel capital punishment correspondence
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1943-1947 : Schoeppel)
Date: 1943-1944
Governor Andrew Shoeppel compiled this series of correspondence on capital punishment issues from letters received during 1943 and 1944. The State of Kansas executed fifteen men between 1944 and 1965. Two AWOL soldiers, George York and James Latham, who were hung on June 22, 1965, became the last murderers executed before the Supreme Court ruling of 1972 invalidated Kansas' death penalty. In 1976, the U. S. Supreme Court's Gregg vs. Georgia decision allowed states to pass new death penalty laws if they followed certain guidelines, and after much debate, this eventually led to the passage of the 1994 law which permits execution by lethal injection, which Governor Finney refused to sign. That death penalty law was rejected by the Kansas Supreme Court, but then upheld in 2006 by a 5 to 4 vote of the U. S. Supreme Court. Although 11 men have received the death sentence since the new law was passed, none have actually been executed at this time.

Governor Edward W. Hoch to Governor Fletcher D. Procter
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1905-1909: Hoch)
Date: October 31, 1906
Kansas Governor Edward W. Hoch of Topeka responds to a request by Vermont Governor Fletcher D. Procter of Montpelier for information on Kansas laws concerning capital punishment. Hoch states that Kansas laws allow for the death penalty but requires an order from the Governor. Hoch states his opposition to capital punishment and his belief that no Kansas Governor has ever issued an execution order [under this law], and that no Governor ever will. While executions by state authority were legal in Kansas from 1861-1907, the State Legislature imposed tighter regulations on death sentences with Senate Bill 18 (1872). The act provided the time of execution to be ordered by the Governor. Kansas Governors between 1872-1907 refused to issue execution orders, as required by law, effectively banning state authorized executions during that period. See Governor Procter to Governor Hoch, October 22, 1906.

Governor Edward W. Hoch to Rev. A. B. Wolfe
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1905-1909: Hoch)
Date: December 19, 1907
Kansas Governor Edward W. Hoch of Topeka responds to a request by Rev. A. B. Wolfe of Kiester, Minnesota, for information on the death penalty in Kansas. Hoch describes the 1872 state law requiring a governor's order for state executions. He notes that this law effectively abolished the death penalty in Kansas since governors between 1872-1907 refused to issue execution orders. Hoch claims his strong opposition to capital punishment played a key role in the 1907 state law repealing the death penalty in Kansas. Kansas did not reinstate capital punishment until 1935, and the U. S. Supreme Court declared that law unconstitutional in 1972.

Governor Fletcher D. Procter to Governor Edward W. Hoch
Creator: Procter, Fletcher D.
Date: October 22, 1906
Vermont Governor Fletcher D. Procter of Montpelier writes Kansas Governor Edward W. Hoch of Topeka concerning capital punishment. Procter wants to know if Kansas laws have effectively abolished capital punishment, and if so, what effect this has had on crime in the state. While executions by state authority were legal in Kansas from 1861-1907, the Legislature imposed tighter regulations on death sentences with Senate Bill 18 (1872). The act provided the time of execution to be ordered by the governor. Kansas governors between 1872-1907 refused to issue execution orders, as required by law, effectively banning state authorized executions during that period. See Governor Hoch to Governor Procter, October 31, 1906.

Governor John Anderson capital punishment received correspondence
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1961-1965 : Anderson)
Date: 1961-1964
Republican politician John Anderson compiled this series of correspondence on capital punishment issues from letters received while governor of Kansas from 1961-1965. The State of Kansas executed fifteen men between 1944 and 1965. Two AWOL soldiers, George York and James Latham, who were hung on June 22, 1965, became the last persons executed before the Supreme Court ruling of 1972 invalidated Kansas' death penalty. In 1976, the U. S. Supreme Court's Gregg vs. Georgia decision allowed states to pass new death penalty laws if they followed certain guidelines, and after much debate, this eventually led to the passage of the 1994 law which permits execution by lethal injection, which Governor Finney refused to sign. That death penalty law was rejected by the Kansas Supreme Court, but then upheld in 2006 by a five to four vote of the U. S. Supreme Court. Although eleven men have received the death sentence since the new law was passed (1994), none have been executed.

Governor John Carlin veto message on capital punishment bill
Creator: Carlin, John, 1940-
Date: April 04, 1985
Governor Carlin's message to the Kansas House of Representatives vetoing H.B. 2135, a bill to reinstate capital punishment in Kansas. In 1972, the U. S. Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia overturned capital punishment laws in many states, including Kansas. This was Governor Carlin's fourth and final veto of a death penalty bill during his eight year administration. Carlin explains that he opposes capital punishment because it did not meet the "standards for punishment in a civilized society." The legislature failed to override the veto. Kansas reinstituted capital punishment in 1994.

Governor Mike Hayden interview
Creator: Beatty, Bob, 1966-
Date: September 29, 2008
Click the thumbnail images below for different segments of an audio recording of an interview with former Kansas Governor Mike Hayden, who discusses his early life, military service in Vietnam, years in the Kansas Legislature, and experience as governor of Kansas from January 12, 1987 - January 14, 1991. Bob Beatty and Mark Peterson, Political Science Department, Washburn University, conducted the interview in Topeka on September 29, 2008; a complete transcript of the interview is available by clicking Text Version below. It and a previous interview conducted at Cedar Crest in 2004 are the basis for Beatty's article "'Being close to the People': A Conversation with Former Governor Mike Hayden," Kansas History, v32 n1 (Spring 2009). The 2004 interview is available on Kansas Memory as item 215739.

Governor Mike Hayden interview
Creator: Beatty, Bob, 1966-
Date: November 24, 2003
Click the thumbnail images below to play clips of Kansas Governor Mike Hayden discussing his experience as governor of Kansas from January 12, 1987 - January 14, 1991. Bob Beatty, Political Science Department, Washburn University, conducts the interview as part of the Kansas Governors Recorded History and Documentary Project, Dr. Bob Beatty and Washburn University, 2005. A complete transcript of the interview, which was conducted at Cedar Crest on November 24, 2003, is available by clicking Text Version below. It and a subsequent interview conducted in 2008 are the basis for Beatty's article "'Being close to the People': A Conversation with Former Governor Mike Hayden," Kansas History, v32 n1 (Spring 2009). The 2008 interview is available on Kansas Memory as item 215796.