List of people executed in the United States in 1955

Seventy-nine people, seventy-eight male and one female, were executed in the United States in 1955, fifty-three by electrocution, twenty-one by gas chamber, four by hanging, and one by firing squad.[1]

List of people executed in the United States in 1955

No. Date of execution Name Age of person Gender Ethnicity State Method Ref.
At execution At offense Age difference
1 January 4, 1955 Frank J. Roscus 35 33 2 Male White New Jersey Electrocution [2]
2 January 7, 1955 James Willie Morgan 18 17 1 Georgia [3]
3 January 11, 1955 Eugene Monahan 45 43 2 New Jersey [4]
4 January 12, 1955 Donald Hawkins Brown 26 24 Texas [5]
5 January 14, 1955 Tom Johnson 42 39 3 Black Louisiana [6]
6 February 4, 1955 Walter Thomas Byrd 43 41 2 White California Gas chamber [7]
7 February 10, 1955 Henry Matthews 18 16 New York Electrocution [8]
8 February 11, 1955 John Richard Jensen 29 28 1 California Gas chamber [9]
9 February 17, 1955 Romulo Rosario 38 36 2 Hispanic New York Electrocution [10]
10 March 1, 1955 Chastine Beverly 25 21 4 Black U.S. military Hanging [11]
11 James L. Riggins 28 24
12 Louis M. Suttles 26 22
13 March 3, 1955 Gerald Albert Gallego 26 0 White Mississippi Gas chamber [12]
14 March 4, 1955 Carl James Folk Sr. 56 55 1 Arizona [13]
15 Allen Donaldson 28 26 2 Black Mississippi [14]
16 March 18, 1955 Roy Tarrance 49 45 4 White Kentucky Electrocution [15]
17 Leonard Tarrance 25 22 3
18 April 1, 1955 Dock Booker 46 44 2 Black Missouri Gas chamber [15]
19 April 15, 1955 Howard Jackson 44 42 Georgia Electrocution [16]
20 Tom Williams 46 45 1 [1]
21 Arthur Waitus 37 33 4 South Carolina [17]
22 Samuel Thomas Voss 29 27 2 Tennessee [18]
23 April 18, 1955 John H. McVeigh 34 32 White Florida [1]
24 April 25, 1955 Grover Cleveland Edwards 35 33 Pennsylvania
25 Benjamin Franklin Robinson 36 35 1 Black
26 April 28, 1955 August Charles LaFontaine 24 23 White Mississippi Gas chamber [19]
27 May 3, 1955 Jose Philippinos Cruz 26 25 Asian New Jersey Electrocution [20]
28 Felipe Nieves Rios 29 28
29 Joaquin Rodriguez 33 32
30 May 6, 1955 Johnson William Caldwell White California Gas chamber [21]
31 May 13, 1955 Leonard Jessie Baldwin 32 29 3 [22]
32 May 18, 1955 Anthony J. Zilbauer 52 51 1 [23]
33 May 20, 1955 Harry Francis Butcher Jr. 29 28 Texas Electrocution [1]
34 June 3, 1955 Barbara Elaine Graham 31 29 2 Female California Gas chamber [24]
35 Emmett Raymond Perkins 46 44 Male
36 John Albert Santo 54 52
37 June 8, 1955 Henry William Meyer 65 63 Texas Electrocution [25]
38 June 10, 1955 Robert Lee Sauls Jr. 31 29 Black Louisiana [26]
39 William C. Thomas 32 30 Maryland Hanging [1]
40 June 17, 1955 Sylvester Fuller 25 Unknown Unknown Georgia Electrocution
41 June 20, 1955 John E. Wiggins 59 58 1 Mississippi Gas chamber [27]
42 June 23, 1955 Mack C. Lewis 21 19 2 [28]
43 July 1, 1955 Don Jesse Neal 35 31 4 White Utah Firing squad [1]
44 July 9, 1955 Calman Cooper 47 42 5 New York Electrocution [29]
45 Harry Stein 57 52
46 Nathan Wissner 43 38
47 July 11, 1955 William J. Lorain 34 31 3 Connecticut [30]
48 William Maxwell Jr. 28 26 2 Black Pennsylvania [1]
49 July 14, 1955 Alonzo Russell 42 41 1 Virginia [31]
50 July 15, 1955 Richard Scales 29 28 North Carolina Gas chamber [32]
51 July 18, 1955 John Bourne Donahue 22 20 2 White Connecticut Electrocution [33]
52 Robert Nelson Malm 31 30 1
53 July 25, 1955 Patrick Alexander Lance Pennsylvania [34]
54 Elijah Thompson Jr. 23 22 Black [35]
55 August 1, 1955 Harry E. Kirkendoll 33 31 2 Tennessee [36]
56 Charlie N. Sullins 38 36 White
57 August 18, 1955 Floyd Ray Jackson 21 20 1 Black Texas [1]
58 August 19, 1955 Walter Johnson 19 18 Mississippi Gas chamber [37]
59 August 29, 1955 Louis Gillard 54 Unknown Unknown Florida Electrocution [1]
60 August 31, 1955 Lester Edward Bartholomew 38 38 0 White Arizona Gas chamber [38]
61 September 2, 1955 Alfred Stokes 24 22 2 Black New Jersey Electrocution [39]
62 Harry Wise 23 21
63 Albert Wise 24 23 1
64 September 8, 1955 Edward J. Nichols 28 27 1 New York [1]
65 Clarence M. Reed 32 31
66 September 15, 1955 Robert Logan Crenshaw Jr. 42 41 Tennessee
67 September 16, 1955 Ed Milam 25 24 Kentucky [40]
68 September 20, 1955 Harold Euin Berry 28 26 2 White California Gas chamber [41]
69 September 26, 1955 George Lee Capps 24 22 Pennsylvania Electrocution [42]
70 John Wesley Wable 26 23 3 [43]
71 October 7, 1955 Marvin H. Chasteen 41 39 2 South Carolina [44]
72 October 31, 1955 Chester Forster Dyer 20 19 1 Florida [1]
73 December 2, 1955 Willie Junior Daniels 24 24 0 Black South Carolina [45]
74 Clay Daniels 23 23
75 December 9, 1955 Murry Garfield Gilmore 32 31 1 White Mississippi Gas chamber [46]
76 December 12, 1955 Samuel J. Hornbeck 38 36 2 Florida Electrocution [47]
77 December 18, 1955 Mose Robinson 21 20 1 Black Mississippi Gas chamber [48]
78 December 23, 1955 Chester Howard Merrifield 37 34 3 White Kentucky Electrocution [49]
79 David Nichols 55 54 1 Black [1]

Demographics

Gender
Male 78 99%
Female 1 1%
Ethnicity
White 40 51%
Black 35 44%
Asian 3 4%
Hispanic 1 1%
State
California 9 11%
Mississippi 8 10%
New Jersey 8 10%
New York 7 9%
Pennsylvania 7 9%
Kentucky 5 6%
Florida 4 5%
Georgia 4 5%
South Carolina 4 5%
Tennessee 4 5%
Texas 4 5%
Connecticut 3 4%
U.S. military 3 4%
Arizona 2 3%
Louisiana 2 3%
Maryland 1 1%
Missouri 1 1%
North Carolina 1 1%
Utah 1 1%
Virginia 1 1%
Method
Electrocution 53 67%
Gas chamber 21 27%
Hanging 4 5%
Firing squad 1 1%
Month
January 5 6%
February 4 5%
March 8 10%
April 9 11%
May 7 9%
June 9 11%
July 12 15%
August 6 8%
September 10 13%
October 2 3%
November 0 0%
December 7 9%
Age
10–19 3 4%
20–29 32 41%
30–39 23 29%
40–49 13 16%
50–59 7 9%
60–69 1 1%
Total 79 100%

Executions in recent years

Number of executions
1956 65
1955 79
1954 83
Total 227

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Executions in the U.S. 1608-2002: The ESPY File" (PDF). Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
  2. ^ "State v. Roscus". Justia Law.
  3. ^ "Summary of the execution of James Morgan". M. E. Grenander Special Collections & Archives.
  4. ^ "State v. Monahan". Justia Law.
  5. ^ "Killer's 'chair' appeal". The Argus. January 13, 1955. p. 2.
  6. ^ "State v. Johnson". Justia Law.
  7. ^ "People v. Byrd". Justia Law.
  8. ^ "Youth Executed in Sing Sing". The New York Times. February 11, 1955.
  9. ^ "Jensen, who killed first at 14, goes to his death". The San Bernardino County Sun via newspapers.com. February 12, 1955. p. 3.
  10. ^ "Chair Takes Rosario, Who Bared Plot To Empty Death House". Daily News via newspapers.com. February 18, 1955. p. 398.
  11. ^ "Three Soldiers Are Hanged For Slaying". Decatur Daily Democrat. March 1, 1955. p. 2.
  12. ^ "Gallego v. State". Justia Law.
  13. ^ "Torture Slayer of Woman Executed in Arizona". Evening Star via newspapers.com. March 4, 1955. p. 8.
  14. ^ "Gas Chamber Claims Negro". Clarion-Ledger via newspapers.com. March 4, 1955. p. 1.
  15. ^ a b "Tarrence v. Commonwealth". Justia Law.
  16. ^ "Jackson v. State". CourtListener.
  17. ^ "The State v. Waitus". Justia Law.
  18. ^ "Voss v. State". Justia Law.
  19. ^ "Third Man Dies In Gas Chamber At Pen; Killed Fellow Inmate". Enterprise-Journal via newspapers.com. April 29, 1955. p. 1.
  20. ^ "State v. Rios". vLex.
  21. ^ "People v. Caldwell". Stanford Law School.
  22. ^ "People v. Baldwin". Justia Law.
  23. ^ "People v. Zilbauer". Justia Law.
  24. ^ "Barbara Graham, John A. Santo, and Emmett R. Perkins, Appellants, v. H. O. Teets, Warden, California State Penitentiary, San Quentin, California, Appellee, 223 F.2d 680 (9th Cir. 1955)". Justia Law.
  25. ^ "'Man With Iron Nerves' Dies in Electric Chair". Corpus Christi Caller-Times via newspapers.com. June 8, 1955. p. 4.
  26. ^ "State v. Sauls". Justia Law.
  27. ^ "Wiggins v. State". Justia Law.
  28. ^ "Mack C. Lewis Put To Death In Gas Chamber". Sun Herald via newspapers.com. June 24, 1955. p. 1.
  29. ^ "3 DIGEST KILLERS DIE AT SING SING; Pay Penalty for '50 Hold-Up Slaying--De Luca Denies Final Clemency Plea". The New York Times. July 10, 1955.
  30. ^ "State v. Lorain". vLex.
  31. ^ "Va. Negro Executed For Slaying". Lebanon News. July 21, 1955. p. 6.
  32. ^ "State v. Scales". Justia Law.
  33. ^ "Two Slayers Die, Both Calm To the Last, Facing Chair". The Bridgeport Post via newspapers.com. July 19, 1955. p. 38.
  34. ^ "Commonwealth v. Lance". Justia Law.
  35. ^ "Slayer of Girl is Sentenced to Die". The News-Herald via newspapers.com. January 21, 1955. p. 1.
  36. ^ "Kirkendoll v. State". Justia Law.
  37. ^ "Johnson v. State". Justia Law.
  38. ^ "Death-Stilled Voice Returns At Rites". The Arizona Republic via newspapers.com. September 2, 1955. p. 15.
  39. ^ "State v. Wise". Justia Law.
  40. ^ "Milam v. Commonwealth". vLex.
  41. ^ "People v. Berry". vLex.
  42. ^ "Commonwealth v. Capps". Justia Law.
  43. ^ "Commonwealth v. Wable". Justia Law.
  44. ^ "State v. Chasteen". Justia Law.
  45. ^ "Doomed Man Breaks from Electric Chair, but Dies". Desert Sun. December 3, 1955. p. 3.
  46. ^ "Gilmore v. State". vLex.
  47. ^ "Hornbeck v. State". Justia Law.
  48. ^ "Robinson v. State". Justia Law.
  49. ^ "Chester Merrifield Executed". Lexington Herald-Leader via newspapers.com. December 23, 1955. p. 3.
Preceded by
1954 		   List of people executed   
   in the United States in   
1955 		Succeeded by
1956
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