{{short description|American convicted murderer}} {{for|the American politician|Wallace G. Wilkinson}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox criminal | name = Wallace Wilkerson | image_size = | image_name = | image_caption = | birth_date = {{circa|1834}}<ref name="Last-Words-2010" /> | birth_place = Quincy, Illinois, U.S.<ref name="Unforgiven-1997-p47" /> | death_date = {{Death date|1879|05|16}} (aged 45) | death_place = Provo, Utah Territory, U.S.<ref name="NYTimes-18790516-legally" /> | death_cause = Exsanguination caused by botched firing squad execution | alias = | occupation = Stockman, horse breaker, military drummer<ref name="Unforgiven-1997-p47" /> | conviction = Murder – 1877<ref name="DeseretNews-18790516-penalty" /> | conviction_penalty = Death | conviction_status = Executed<br>({{start date and age|df=no|1879|5|16}})<ref name="SLT-19960128-death" /> | spouse = | parents = | children = }}
[[File:Homansville Eureka Utah sketch 1872.jpg|thumb|235px|1872 surveyor's sketch of Homansville, where Wilkerson worked in Utah Territory.<ref name="Legal-Executions-2010" />]] '''Wallace Wilkerson''' ({{circa|1834}} – May 16, 1879)<ref name="Last-Words-2010">{{cite book|last=Elder|first=Robert K.|author2=Terkel, Studs |title=Last Words of the Executed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cOxMYVG0nWwC&q=wallace+wilkerson&pg=PA110|publisher=University of Chicago Press|page=110|access-date=November 1, 2010|year=2010|isbn=9780226202693}}</ref> was an American stockman who was sentenced to death by the Territory of Utah for the murder of William Baxter. Wilkerson professed his innocence,<ref name="Unforgiven-1997-p47">{{cite book|last=Gillespie|first=L. Kay|title=The Unforgiven: Utah's Executed Men|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BjgFAQAAIAAJ&q=quincy|publisher=Signature Books|page=47|access-date=November 1, 2010|year=1997|isbn=9781560850984}}</ref><ref name="SCOTUS-1878">{{cite web|last=Clifford|first=Nathan|author-link=Nathan Clifford|title=''Wilkerson v. Utah''|url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=99&invol=130|publisher=Supreme Court of the United States|access-date=October 28, 2010|date=October 1878}}</ref> but chose to die by firing squad over hanging or decapitation.<ref name="DeseretNews-18790516-penalty">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OvQdAAAAIBAJ&pg=1240,4761899&dq=Wilkerson+blood+atoned+decapitation|title=The Death Penalty for Murder|newspaper=Deseret Evening News|page=2|publisher=George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young|access-date=October 6, 2010|date=May 16, 1879}}</ref> The execution was botched; Wilkerson took up to 27 minutes to die after the firing squad missed his heart.<ref name="Last-Words-2010" /><ref name="SLT-19960128-death">{{cite news|last=Schindler|first=Hal|title=Taylor's Death Was Quick . . . But Some Weren't So Lucky|url=http://historytogo.utah.gov/salt_lake_tribune/in_another_time/012896.html|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|access-date=June 26, 2010|date=January 28, 1996|archive-date=June 10, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610134103/http://historytogo.utah.gov/salt_lake_tribune/in_another_time/012896.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
His case, ''Wilkerson v. Utah'', was heard by the Supreme Court of the United States and continues to be cited in present-day case law involving cruel and unusual punishment.<ref name="NYTimes-20080423-cruel">{{cite news|last=King|first=Gilbert|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/opinion/23king.html|title=Cruel and Unusual History|newspaper=New York Times|access-date=October 29, 2010|date=April 23, 2008}}</ref>
==Background== Wallace Wilkerson was born in Quincy, Illinois, to a Mormon family. At the age of eight, he moved with his parents to the Territory of Utah. At the age of seventeen, Wilkerson was working as a stockman and horse breaker. He enlisted several times in the military, once serving as a drummer in San Francisco, California.<ref name="Unforgiven-1997-p47" />
In 1877, Wilkerson lived at Payson in Utah Territory and worked with his brothers at Homansville. He frequented a saloon nearby at Eureka. The bartender, William Baxter, called Wilkerson a "California Mormon", which was considered a slur, and once used a six shooter to break up a conflict between Wilkerson and another patron in the saloon.<ref name="Legal-Executions-2010">{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=R. Michael|title=Legal Executions in the Western Territories, 1847-1911|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eXd7Tty1OdAC&q=wallace+wilkerson&pg=PA169|publisher=McFarland & Company|pages=169–171|access-date=November 1, 2010|year=2010|isbn=9780786456338}}</ref>
==Death of William Baxter== [[File:Eureka, Tintic, Utah 1911.jpg|thumb|left|Tintic District at Eureka, Utah, in 1911.]] On June 11, 1877, Baxter stopped at a saloon owned by James Hightower in the Tintic Mining District while on the way to Homansville. He met Wilkerson and the two began to play a card game of cribbage for money. An argument broke out between the men over accusations of cheating. Baxter attempted to back out of the struggle, but was fatally shot in the forehead and temple by Wilkerson, who then fled. The next morning, the coroner examined the body of Baxter, who was determined to have been unarmed at the time of the shooting. Authorities quickly captured Wilkerson and kept him under guard in Goshen to prevent him from being lynched.<ref name="Legal-Executions-2010" /><ref name="CSU-2002-Nothing">{{cite web|last=Cutler|first=Christopher Q.|title=Nothing less than the Dignity of Man: Evolving Standards, Botched Executions and Utah's Controversial Use of the Firing Squad|url=https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=50+Clev.+St.+L.+Rev.+335&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=ad0f375292c585372b76a4204a5db592|work=Cleveland State Law Review|publisher=Cleveland State University|access-date=October 29, 2010|year=2002}} {{subscription required}}</ref>
===Trial=== Wilkerson was indicted for premeditated murder by a grand jury. On September 29, 1877, he pleaded not guilty and was placed in the Utah County jail.<ref name="Legal-Executions-2010" /><ref name="SCOTUS-1878" /> Wilkerson's trial at the First District Court of Utah Territory commenced on November 22. He was convicted by the jury two days later.<ref name="Legal-Executions-2010" /><ref name="DeseretNews-18780123-confirmed">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=b8VLAAAAIBAJ&pg=4258,4898788&dq=wallace+wilkerson|title=Confirmed|newspaper=The Deseret News|page=812|access-date=October 28, 2010|date=January 23, 1878}}</ref> On November 28, state district judge P. H. Emerson sentenced Wilkerson to death and set an execution date of December 14, 1877.<ref name="Legal-Executions-2010" /><ref name="SCOTUS-1878" /> Wilkerson chose to be executed by firing squad instead of the other options of hanging or decapitation that were legal in the territory at the time.<ref name="DeseretNews-18790516-penalty" />
===Appeals=== {{main|Wilkerson v. Utah}} [[File:Nathan Clifford - Brady-Handy.jpg|thumb|100px|Justice Nathan Clifford]] A stay of execution was issued after Wilkerson's attorney filed an appeal.<ref name="Legal-Executions-2010" /> The Supreme Court of Utah Territory denied the appeal in January 1878.<ref name="DeseretNews-18780123-confirmed" /> On January 8, 1879, attorneys E. D. Hoge and P. L. Williams submitted a writ of error that raised an argument of cruel and unusual punishment on behalf of Wilkerson to the Supreme Court of the United States during its October 1878 term. On March 17, 1879, Justice Nathan Clifford delivered the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the verdict.<ref name="SCOTUS-1878" /><ref name="Reports-SCOTUS-1885">{{cite book|title=Reports of cases argued and decided in the Supreme Court of the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6JcDAAAAQAAJ&q=wallace+wilkerson+utah&pg=PA345|publisher=Lawyers Cooperative Publishing|pages=345–348|access-date=October 29, 2010|year=1885}}</ref>
{{blockquote|Cruel and unusual punishments are forbidden by the Constitution, but the authorities referred to are quite sufficient to show that the punishment of shooting as a mode of executing the death penalty for the crime of murder in the first degree is not included in that category, within the meaning of the eighth amendment.|U.S. Supreme Court|''Wilkerson v. Utah'' (March 1879)<ref name="Reports-SCOTUS-1885" />}}
==Execution== {{Location map|Utah|label=Provo|position=right|lat=40.244444|long=-111.66083|width=135|float=left|caption=Wilkerson was executed in Provo, Utah.<ref name="NYTimes-18790516-legally" />}} On May 15, 1879, Wilkerson was transferred from Salt Lake City to a jail in Provo.<ref name="Legal-Executions-2010" /> Wilkerson spent his last day together with his wife until half an hour before the execution.<ref name="BaltimoreSun-18790517-execution">{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/1627895962.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=May+17%2C+1879&author=&pub=The+Sun+(1837-1985)&desc=The+Death+Penalty|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104094351/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/1627895962.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=May+17,+1879&author=&pub=The+Sun+(1837-1985)&desc=The+Death+Penalty|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 4, 2012|title=An Execution in Utah|newspaper=The Baltimore Sun|access-date=October 28, 2010|date=May 17, 1879}} {{subscription required}}</ref> He declined visits by the clergy. Wilkerson was brought out of his cell by Sheriff John Turner, a deputy, and U.S. Marshal Shaughnessy.<ref name="Legal-Executions-2010" /> He was dressed in black with a white felt hat and a cigar which he kept through the execution.<ref name="SLT-19960128-death" /> Wilkerson gave a farewell speech thanking the law enforcement officers and shook hands with some of the 25 people present in the jail yard in Provo. About 200 spectators were estimated to have gathered outside. Wilkerson stated that he bore no grudge against anyone except a witness that he accused of committing perjury at his trial.<ref name="NYTimes-18790516-legally">{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1879/05/17/80753296.pdf|title=Six Men Legally Killed|newspaper=New York Times|access-date=October 28, 2010|date=May 16, 1879}}</ref> Some of the witnesses of the execution recalled that he appeared to be drunk.<ref name="SLT-19960128-death" />
Wilkerson was seated on a chair at a corner of the jail yard about 30 feet away from the shooters and declined to be blindfolded.<ref name="Lyons-18790524-concerning">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wZ0mAAAAIBAJ&pg=6425,3141272&dq=wallace+wilkerson|title=Concerning the Shooting at Provo City, Utah|newspaper=Lyons Weekly Mirror|page=2|access-date=October 28, 2010|date=May 24, 1879}}</ref> He insisted that restraints were unnecessary, stating: "I give you my word... I intend to die like a man, looking my executioners right in the eye." A white three-inch paper target was pinned on Wilkerson's chest over his heart.<ref name="SLT-19960128-death" /><ref name="CSU-2002-Nothing" /> Wilkerson yelled, "[A]im for my heart, Marshal!"<ref name="Legal-Executions-2010" />
At approximately noon on May 16, 1879, the marshal signaled the men who were concealed in a shed to shoot.<ref name="NYTimes-18790516-legally" /><ref name="Legal-Executions-2010" /> When Wilkerson heard the end of the count, he stiffened up in the chair, unwittingly moving the target. The bullets missed Wilkerson's heart, one of them shattering his arm and the rest hitting his torso.<ref name="SLT-19960128-death" /> He leapt off the chair and screamed, "Oh, my God! My God! They've missed it!"<ref name="Unforgiven-1997-p49">{{cite book|last=Gillespie|title=The Unforgiven|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BjgFAQAAIAAJ&q=wilkerson|page=49|year=1997|publisher=Signature Books |isbn=9781560850984}}</ref> Four doctors rushed to Wilkerson, who was struggling and gasping on the ground.<ref name="Legal-Executions-2010" /> Officials were concerned at one point that they would have to shoot him again,<ref name="CSU-2002-Nothing" /> but he was pronounced dead 27 minutes later, having bled to death.<ref name="NYTimes-20080423-cruel" /> According to some accounts, he appeared to have died in about 15 minutes.<ref name="Last-Words-2010" />
===Aftermath=== Wilkerson's body was carried to an office at the county courthouse. After being washed and placed in a coffin covered in black, the body was returned to Wilkerson's wife to be taken to Payson for burial.<ref name="Legal-Executions-2010" />
The ''Deseret News'', published at the time by Brigham Young Jr., the son of deceased Latter Day Saint movement leader Brigham Young, proclaimed that "divine law has been executed and human law honored" because Wilkerson "atoned for that deed as far as it is possible so to do by the pouring out of his own blood."<ref name="DeseretNews-18790516-penalty" /> However, the ''Ogden Junction'' criticized the event by printing: "...the French guillotine never fails."<ref name="SLT-19960128-death" />
In the April 2008 decision of ''Baze v. Rees'', U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas cited the case of ''Wilkerson v. Utah'' in affirming that Kentucky's method of execution by lethal injection did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.<ref name="NYTimes-20080423-cruel" /><ref name="SCOTUS-2008">{{cite web|title=''Baze and Bowling v. Rees''|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10752510346595419167&q=Wilkerson+v.+Utah&hl=en&as_sdt=2002&as_ylo=2007|publisher=Supreme Court of the United States|access-date=October 29, 2010|date=April 16, 2008}}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Biography|Law|Utah|United States|Latter Day Saint movement|Modern history}} *Blood atonement *Capital punishment in Utah *Capital punishment in the United States
== References == {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
==External links== *[https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=13608311685615460762&q=Wilkerson+v.+Utah ''Wilkerson v. Utah''] – U.S. Supreme Court (March 17, 1879) *[https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10752510346595419167&q=Wilkerson+v.+Utah ''Baze and Bowling v. Rees''] – U.S. Supreme Court (April 16, 2008)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkerson, Wallace}} Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:1830s births Category:1879 deaths Category:19th-century executions by the United States Category:American Latter Day Saints Category:American people executed for murder Category:Botched executions in the United States Category:People from Quincy, Illinois Category:19th-century executions of American people Category:19th-century American murderers Category:Executed people from Illinois Category:People from Provo, Utah Category:United States military musicians Category:People convicted of murder by Utah Category:People executed by Utah by firing squad