List of people executed in the United States in 1956

Sixty-five people, all male, were executed in the United States in 1956, forty-six by electrocution, sixteen by gas chamber, two by firing squad, and one by hanging.[1]

List of people executed in the United States in 1956

No. Date of execution Name Age of person Gender Ethnicity State Method Ref.
At execution At offense Age difference
1 January 3, 1956 Robert Buchanan 35 34 1 Male Black Mississippi Gas chamber [1]
2 Samuel Wright 20 19 South Carolina Electrocution [2]
3 January 4, 1956 Carrol Dayton Farrar 36 34 2 White Texas [3]
4 January 12, 1956 William Snyder Byers 19 17 New York [4]
5 January 18, 1956 Hurbie Franklin Fairris Jr. 22 20 Oklahoma [5]
6 January 19, 1956 Norman Roye 20 18 Black New York [6]
7 January 20, 1956 Henry Lee Boone 33 32 1 South Carolina [7]
8 January 24, 1956 Johnnie Elwood Gordon 25 23 2 Texas [1]
9 January 26, 1956 John Francis Roche 28 26 White New York [8]
10 January 27, 1956 Walter Philpott 39 38 1 Black Georgia [1]
11 Edgar Keeler 38 37 Mississippi Gas chamber [9]
12 February 17, 1956 O.C. McNair 24 22 2 [1]
13 February 20, 1956 George Anderson 30 27 3 Florida Electrocution
14 Percy Ambrister Jr. 29 26
15 Herman Barwicks 28 2 [10]
16 February 24, 1956 Arthur Ross Brown 30 29 1 White Federal government Gas chamber [11]
17 James Larry Upton 22 20 2 New Mexico Electrocution [12]
18 March 6, 1956 Smith Edward Jordan 27 24 3 Black California Gas chamber [13]
19 Robert Otis Pierce
20 March 15, 1956 Bernard A. Schreiber 19 17 2 White Ohio Electrocution [1]
21 March 30, 1956 Aubrey Williams 29 25 4 Black Georgia [14]
22 April 5, 1956 James Russell 32 Unknown Unknown Mississippi Gas chamber [15]
23 April 6, 1956 Walter Palmer 30 28 2 Louisiana Electrocution [16]
24 April 13, 1956 Michael Timothy Cavanaugh 32 29 3 White California Gas chamber [17]
25 Willie Grady Cochran 37 36 1 Georgia Electrocution [1]
26 April 28, 1956 Charlie Copeland Jr. 24 21 3 Black Florida [18]
27 May 11, 1956 Verne Alfred Braasch 27 6 White Utah Firing squad [19]
28 Melvin LeRoy Sullivan 25 19
29 May 12, 1956 Tommy Lee Walker 21 18 3 Black Texas Electrocution [20]
30 May 14, 1956 William Durant Cole 30 28 2 Pennsylvania [21]
31 June 4, 1956 Harry Earl Gossard 41 39 White [22]
32 June 8, 1956 James Lee Turner 27 26 1 Black Georgia [23]
33 Marion Andrew Washington 29 28 Texas [1]
34 June 15, 1956 Eugene Augustine Morlock 25 24 Native American California Gas chamber [24]
35 June 22, 1956 Dewey Townsel 26 25 Black Mississippi [25]
36 June 28, 1956 Ernest Lee Edwards 22 20 2 White New York Electrocution [26]
37 June 29, 1956 Frederick Mosley 25 23 Black Georgia [27]
38 July 13, 1956 Henry Thomas 32 26 6 California Gas chamber [28]
39 Willie D. Jones 31 30 1 Mississippi [29]
40 Robert S. Conner 30 28 2 North Carolina [30]
41 Walter T. Wilson Ohio Electrocution [1]
42 July 27, 1956 Raymond Fuller Sr. 31 27 4 South Carolina [31]
43 August 20, 1956 Edgar Joseph LaVoie 56 54 2 White Florida [32]
44 August 21, 1956 John Henry Tune 26 22 4 Black New Jersey [33]
45 August 23, 1956 Frank J. Newman 51 49 2 White New York [1]
46 Flaudell Fite 27 26 1 Black Texas [34]
47 August 30, 1956 Joseph E. Reade Jr. White New York [35]
48 Timothy Pierce 23 22 Black Texas [34]
49 August 31, 1956 Harold Byrd 24 23 South Carolina [36]
50 September 7, 1956 Besalirez Martinez 46 44 2 Hispanic Colorado Gas chamber [37]
51 Robert Lee Hopkins 28 28 0 White West Virginia Electrocution [1]
52 September 20, 1956 Joseph Allen 59 54 5 Black Ohio
53 September 21, 1956 Leo Scarber 60 59 1 Arkansas [38]
54 Paul Cooper 48 47 Georgia [39]
55 September 28, 1956 Melvin Jackson 19 17 2 Alabama [40]
56 October 1, 1956 Robert Lee Colson 25 24 1 Florida [41]
57 Moses Lee Dunmore 21 20
58 October 30, 1956 Leonard Lionel Bingham 26 23 3 White Texas [42]
59 November 7, 1956 Mack Drake 35 34 1 Black Mississippi Gas chamber [43]
60 November 8, 1956 Henry Jackson 21 Unknown Unknown [1]
61 November 26, 1956 Samuel Woodrow Tannyhill 27 26 1 White Ohio Electrocution
62 November 30, 1956 James Franklin Bowman 47 45 2 Black Kentucky [44]
63 Charles C. DeBerry 21 19 [45]
64 Robert Sheckles 22 20 [46]
65 December 15, 1956 Artell Bernard Farley Jr. 27 25 White Washington Hanging [47]

Demographics

Gender
Male 65 100%
Female 0 0%
Ethnicity
Black 43 66%
White 20 31%
Hispanic 1 2%
Native American 1 2%
State
Mississippi 8 12%
Florida 7 11%
Texas 7 11%
Georgia 6 9%
New York 6 9%
California 5 8%
Ohio 4 6%
South Carolina 4 6%
Kentucky 3 5%
Pennsylvania 2 3%
Utah 2 3%
Alabama 1 2%
Arkansas 1 2%
Colorado 1 2%
Federal government 1 2%
Louisiana 1 2%
New Jersey 1 2%
New Mexico 1 2%
North Carolina 1 2%
Oklahoma 1 2%
Washington 1 2%
West Virginia 1 2%
Method
Electrocution 46 71%
Gas chamber 16 25%
Firing squad 2 3%
Hanging 1 2%
Month
January 11 17%
February 6 9%
March 4 6%
April 5 8%
May 4 6%
June 7 11%
July 5 8%
August 7 11%
September 6 9%
October 3 5%
November 6 9%
December 1 2%
Age
10–19 3 5%
20–29 36 55%
30–39 18 28%
40–49 4 6%
50–59 3 5%
60–69 1 2%
Total 65 100%

Executions in recent years

Number of executions
1957 69
1956 65
1955 79
Total 213

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 18, 2025.
  2. ^ "State v. Wright". Justia Law.
  3. ^ "Carrol Farrar Dies In Texas Electric Chair". Brownwood Bulletin via newspapers.com. January 4, 1956. p. 12.
  4. ^ "Youth, 19, Dies In Chair". The Lima News via newspapers.com. January 13, 1956. p. 3.
  5. ^ "Texas Desperado Electrocuted For Homicide". The Duluth News Tribune via newspapers.com. January 18, 1956. p. 22.
  6. ^ "Norman Roye's Sentence Is Carried Out at Ossining". Wellsville Daily Reporter via newspapers.com. January 20, 1956. p. 1.
  7. ^ "State v. Boone". Justia Law.
  8. ^ "Roche Gives Life For Killing Girl". The Post-Star via newspapers.com. January 27, 1956. p. 1.
  9. ^ "Keeler v. State". Justia Law.
  10. ^ "Barwicks v. State". Justia Law.
  11. ^ "Summary of the execution of Arthur Brown". M. E. Grenander Special Collections & Archives.
  12. ^ "Former Sooner Dies in Chair". Miami News-Record via newspapers.com. February 24, 1956. p. 1.
  13. ^ "People v. Jordan". vLex.
  14. ^ "Williams v. Georgia, 349 U.S. 375 (1955)". Justia Law.
  15. ^ "Russell v. State". CaseMine.
  16. ^ "State v. Palmer". Justia Law.
  17. ^ "People v. Cavanaugh". Stanford Law School.
  18. ^ "State Ex Rel. Copeland v. Mayo". Justia Law.
  19. ^ "State v. Braasch". Justia Law.
  20. ^ "Walker v. State". Justia Law.
  21. ^ "Commonwealth v. Cole". Justia Law.
  22. ^ "Commonwealth v. Cole". Justia Law.
  23. ^ "Turner v. State". Justia Law.
  24. ^ "People v. Morlock". FindLaw.
  25. ^ "Townsel v. State". Justia Law.
  26. ^ "Dollar Mugger Of Fisherman Dies in Chair". Daily News via newspapers.com. June 29, 1956. p. 428.
  27. ^ "Mosley v. State". vLex.
  28. ^ "Killer Who Made Unlucky Guess Scheduled to Die". The Times via newspapers.com. July 13, 1956. p. 1.
  29. ^ "Willie Jones Sentencing". The Commercial Appeal via newspapers.com. July 13, 1956. p. 80.
  30. ^ "State v. Conner". Justia Law.
  31. ^ "State v. Fuller". Justia Law.
  32. ^ "LaVoie Gets Death for Slaying Girl". Sarasota Journal. April 20, 1955. p. 80.
  33. ^ "Application of John Henry Tune, for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, 230 F.2d 883 (3d Cir. 1956)". Justia Law.
  34. ^ a b "Fite v. State". Justia Law.
  35. ^ "People v. Reade". vLex.
  36. ^ "State v. Byrd". Justia Law.
  37. ^ "Martinez v. People". Justia Law.
  38. ^ "Scarber v. State". Justia Law.
  39. ^ "Cooper v. State". vLex.
  40. ^ "Jackson v. State". vLex.
  41. ^ "Negro Rapists Die In Raiford Electric Chair". Ocala Star-Banner. October 1, 1956. p. 5.
  42. ^ "Bingham v. State". CourtListener.
  43. ^ "Drake v. State". vLex.
  44. ^ "Bowman v. Commonwealth". Justia Law.
  45. ^ "Summary of the execution of Charles Deberry". M. E. Grenander Special Collections & Archives.
  46. ^ "Summary of the execution of Robert Sheckles". M. E. Grenander Special Collections & Archives.
  47. ^ "State v. Farley". Justia Law.
Preceded by
1955 		   List of people executed   
   in the United States in   
1956 		Succeeded by
1957
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