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Salem Pioneer Cemetery ~ Michael Spanos
~ part of the Marion County Pioneer Cemeteries of Oregon
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Michael Spanos
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| LAST NAME: Spanos
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FIRST NAME: Michael
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MIDDLE NAME:
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NICKNAME:
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| MAIDEN NAME:
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AKA 3:
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| TITLE: Mr.
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GENDER: M
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| BORN: Abt 1892
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DIED: 31 Oct 1913
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BURIED: 1 Nov 1913
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| ETHNICITY:
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OCCUPATION: Tailor
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| BIRTH PLACE: Greece
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| DEATH PLACE: Salem, Marion County, Oregon
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NOTES:
Executed at State Prison, buried from Cottage Undertaking Parlors;
Terwilliger - occuaption Tailor / inmate, religion Roman Catholic (?);
Funeral charged to Father Moore;
OSBH DC (Jackson County 1913) #3496 - Mike Spanos, male, married, occupation Tailor, b. Greece, d. 31 Oct 1913 in Salem, Oregon, (State Pen.) at the age of 21, usual residence Jackson Co., interment 1 Nov, undertaker Terwilliger, informant Pen. Records;
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DEATH CERTIFICATE:
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OBITUARY:
TWO MEN HANG AT 8 O'CLOCK THIS MORNING.
Governor Holds Out Little Hope That Commutation Will Be Granted.
NIGHT PASSED QUIETLY.
Spanos and Seymour Still Hopeful.
Bid Good-Bye to Their Fellows Before Going to Cells for the Night - Execution Chamber Made Ready Yesterday for Carrying Out the Letter of the Law.
At half past eight this morning, Mike Spanos and Frank Seymour, will be hanged at the state prison. They were convicted of killing Geo. Dedasklou, a Greek, in Medford, September 22, 1912.
Late last night Governor West said, "I see no reason why the law should not be allowed to take its course.'' Only eleventh hour executive clemency can now save the men from paying the penalty demanded by the Oregon laws for first degree murder. While the governor did not make the positive assertion that the condemned men would hang, there seems little chance of his commuting their sentences.
Considers Petitions.
Much evidence was before the governor yesterday that had been submitted at various times to show that the men were innocent of the crime for which they were convicted or at least that there were ameliorating circumstances but the statement made last night by Governor West would seem to indicate that he was reasonably certain of their guilt. In depositions made to Warden Lawson of the penitentiary some weeks ago, both men charge a third, not mentioned in the trials, with committing the crime for which they are sentenced to die. Seymour, declares he was absent trying to procure a bottle of whiskey when the slaying took place and to this assertion he is borne up by the deposition of Spanos.
Seem Optimistic.
Both men seemed optimistic last night and greeted their fellow prisoners with a "goodbye" in as cheerful tones as they could under the circumstances. They were still hopeful at bed time last night that intervention might come in their behalf, and the other prisoners did what they could by word and look to bear them up to this belief.
Ropes Tested.
Yesterday afternoon the execution chamber was all in readiness for the hanging today. The ropes were tested, hinges on traps oiled and tested and all done that could be accomplished to do away with any hitch in the execution of sentence. The room ;used is of ample proportions located off the south end of the dining room. Devoid of paint and decorations of any kind, its bare brick walls make it a cheerless place in which to go out of the world. On the south and in the scaffold extending the entire breadth of the room, it is perhaps eight feet high with a flight of stairs leading up.
At eight o'clock the jury of twelve men drawn to attest to the fact that a legal execution has been carried out, will assemble at the prison. The prison physician with consulting physicians will be in readiness and all will then enter the chamber. Accompanied by members of the clergy the doomed men will then be brought in and take their place on the traps. Final statements from Spanos and Seymour, if they care to make any, a few words of encouragement and prayer from the clergy and both men will go into eternity at the same time.
Oregon Statesman 1 Nov 1913 1:5-6
TWO MORE GO TO THEIR DEATH BY THE NOOSE.
Spanos and Seymour Hanged at State Penitentiary Yesterday.
LAWSON CLAIMES DRINK.
In Parting Statement Men Claim Innocence.
Silent Group in Death Chamber at Institution See Convicts Meet Death - Both Make Short Speeches - Receive Religious Instruction by Catholic Priests.
Booze - just plain booze - added two more actions to its long list of ignoble deaths when Mike Spanos and Frank Seymour were shot into eternity through the death traps at the state penitentiary yesterday morning for the murder of George Dedaskalous at Medford in September of last year. The hangings were pulled off without a hitch.
Protest Innocence.
To the very last the men protested their innocence, but innocent or guilty it is known that the foundation on which the crime rests is whiskey. The men themselves declared to the end that the trouble which resulted in murder was caused by a dispute over who should pay for more whiskey, after one quart had been consumed and they wanted more on that Sunday night.
Lawson Says Booze.
Warden Lawson of the penitentiary was pronounced in his opinion that booze was the cause of the crime. The day before the executions he was called into the governors office to confer with the governor about the men.
"What have you to say about Seymour?" asked the Governor.
"I think he is worse one of the two," replied Lawson. "If we had the saloon keeper who was bootlegging whiskey to those men to hang with them there would be more justice in the case. He sold whiskey to them on Sunday, and I believe if they hadn't had the whiskey the crime would never have been committed."
A Silent Group.
It was a silent group of men that assembled in the death chamber at the penitentiary yesterday morning to witness the extreme penalty of the law exercised in regard to these two men. Outside, the morning was gray, dull, and drizzling. Inside, the long corridors were deserted and silent with the prisoners locked in their cells. Shortly before 8:30 o'clock the witnesses, officials and newspapermen entered the death chamber.
Priests With Them.
In a few minutes, each guarded between two men, the condemned men solemnly walked through the big dining room and into the place of execution, firm of step and showing no fear. They readily mounted the steps. Seymour going up first. He was followed by Spanos, with the three Catholic priests, Rev. A. A. Moore, of St. Joseph's church; Father Victor of Tigard; and Father Le Miller of Fairport, a little town west of Cottage Grove.
Seymour Talks.
Cool and collected they faced the little crowd. Seymour waited a moment until Spanos had taken his place on the scaffold and then he stepped to the front and said:
"I have only a few moments to live and with my dying breath I say I forgive you all. I ask forgiveness of all I may have wronged and I forgive you all. I hope I may be the last man to go through a trap in Oregon."
Ready to Die.
Almost immediately Spanos spoke. He said:
"I am ready to die. We are not the boys who killed that man. I forgive everybody and I pray God for all of you and hope you will do so for me."
Both men then stepped back to the traps, the black caps and moose adjusted, and their limbs strapped. Scarcely this work was finished when the men suddenly dropped and were dangling at the end of the rope.
For the space of a few seconds both swung apparently lifeless. The their forms quivered, and stiffened several times, and then gradually relaxed.
Both Pronounced Dead.
The traps were sprung at 8:3? O'clock. At 8:44 Seymour was pronounced dead by Dr. Prince Byrd, and two minutes later Spanos was also pronounced dead.
Up to the time they were confined in the penitentiary here, neither of the men had had any religious instruction to speak of. On Tuesday, October 21, they were baptized in the Catholic faith, and on October 23, were given the first communion by Rev. A. A. Moore of St. Joseph's in this city. On Tuesday October 28, they celebrated communion again. Yesterday morning at 7"15 they partook of holy communion. Rev. Moore was assisted by Fathers Victor and Le Miller.
Placed in Cells.
Later they were placed in the receiving cells and the three priests read the blessing in articalo mortis, then followed that by the litany for the dying. While saying this litany, the officers came to take the men away to the death chamber. On the journey to the cells, the priests recited the "Miserere," or the Fifteenth Psalm. After the speeches by the men and while the straps were being adjusted the prayer for the dying was read, followed by the commendation of the dead soul. After the men had dropped, the priests continued to pray until the bodies were cut down.
Father a Policeman.
Seymour was only 19 years old and has had a varied career. His father was a Portland police officer who ran away with another woman to San Francisco. Young Seymour carried water in a logging camp for a while. Then he became a sailor and deserted his shop in 1911.
Spanos was 21 years old and an Orthodox Greek. His education was limited.
Was a Greek.
George Dedasklon was a Greek, and was murdered at Medford on the night of September 22, 1912, his body being found the next morning under a box factory. When discovered it was covered with mud, half divested of its clothing, the skull fractured and the throat slashed. Officers searching the scene of the murder the next morning found the knife with which his throat had been slashed and a club with which the skull had been fractured. Near the body they also found the belt in which he carried his money, and on his person neither money nor valuables.
Seymour and Spanos were arrested on suspicion and finally confessed to the murder. They were jointly indicted for it, but when placed on trial, endeavored to exclude the confession from the consideration of the jury on the ground that it was obtained by the officers through misrepresentation, and by promising immunity. This they failed to do, and they were convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to hang. They prosecuted an appeal to the superior court, but that tribunal sustained the judgment of the circuit court.
Oregon Statesman 2 Nov 1913 1:5-6
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INSCRIPTION:
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SOURCES:
Terwilliger Vol 2 #371
OSBH DC (Jackson County 1913) #3496
OS 1 Nov 1913 1:5-6
OS 2 Nov 1913 1:5-6
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