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James Cole’s long mile to the gallows

On March 24, 1899, James Cole, 38, was executed in Burleigh County, North Dakota, for the December 1898 murder of Sophronia Ford, 16, whom he shot in a jealous rage.
Enraged by rumors that Ford had another lover, Cole shot her three times on December 12, 1898, after she refused his marriage proposal; he had spent years supporting her family on Sixth Street.
Cole slept three hours before his execution, eating ham, eggs, toast and three cigars as sunrise flushed the hills with rose. Chief Deputy Patterson promised he would be buried beside Ford if he died bravely.
Dressed in a black suit, Cole walked alone through the courthouse onto the scaffold with his arms strapped behind his back. "Let her go, boys" were his last words before he fell seven feet and was pronounced dead.
The Emmons County Record called the case "the most cold-blooded, brutal and deliberate murder" in the state, yet Cole somehow touched the hearts of those who knew him; Sheriff Bogue refused to pull the trap himself.

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James Cole’s long mile to the gallows

BISMARCK, N.D. — The days leading up to James Cole’s 1899 execution brought a flurry of activity to save the condemned man’s life. Loyal friends petitioned the North Dakota governor's office to commute his death sentence. “But when Cole was seen about it he said that he had no such desire, and that if they were friends of his they would let matters take their course,” The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead reported. Methodist minister James Anderson prayed…

3 hours ago·Cherokee County, United States

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