American Hangman

In the 1890s, Amos Lunt served as the San Quentin hangman, tying the nooses that brought the most dangerous criminals in the Wild West to their deaths. A former police chief who became the hangman of San Quentin due to an unfortunate turn of events, Lunt stood on the gallows alongside bank robbers, desperadoes and assassins for five years.

This book follows Lunt’s trail from the Santa Cruz police department to the State Prison. Covering his interesting friendship with a series of death row inmates and the gradual deterioration of his sanity, it is a one-of-a-kind biography that details an American executioner. Also profiled are his subjects—20 of the West’s most heinous criminals—as well as Lunt’s preparations for their hangings and their final moments on the gallows..

Writer and researcher Tobin T. Buhk lives in Jenison, Michigan.

Tobin T. Buhk
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 290
Bibliographic Info: 49 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2022
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8592-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4601-5
Imprint: McFarland

Biographical Timeline vii
Preface: Enter the Hangman (Friday, April 20, 1894) 1
Introduction: The Hangman’s Odyssey 5
Part I: From Boston to San Quentin (1846–1894) 19
1. Go West, Young Man (1847–1886) 20
2. The Wild West of Amos Lunt, Lawman (1886–1890) 28
3. Sheriff William E. Hale and the Sutton Debacle (1888–1889) 35
4. The Last Straw: Sheriff McDougall and the Eubanks Hanging (January 1891) 40
5. Warden Hale and the Politics of Execution (April 1891) 49
6. The San Quentin Gallows and Gallows Procedures (April 1891–August 1892) 51
7. Off the Wall (May 1891–June 1891) 56
8. One Hot Summer (July 1891–August 1892) 59
9. He Died with His Boots on (Friday, March 3, 1893) 64
Part II: The Hangman of San Quentin (1894–1901) 71
10. Learning the Ropes: Lunt Becomes Hangman (Friday, February 2, 1894) 72
11. Tight Rope (Friday, April 20, 1894) 79
12. The Triple Event (Friday, June 7, 1895) 87
13. “Tighten up the Rope” (Friday, July 26, 1895) 104
14. Hanging by a String (Friday, August 9, 1895) 110
15. “The Gallows Frame Rattled” (Friday, October 18, 1895) 117
16. Tenth Man (Friday, October 25, 1895) 128
17. The Master and the Apprentice (Friday, December 11, 1896) 133
18. Business Not as Usual: Chun Sing (Wednesday, February 17, 1897) 141
19. Unlucky No. 13 (Friday, April 23, 1897) 145
20. “With a ­red-hot iron” (Friday, May 14, 1897) 154
21. “The Criminal of the Century” (Thursday, November 11, 1897) 157
22. The Rix Interview (Saturday, November 20, 1897) 159
23. Friday the Thirteenth (Friday, December 10, 1897) 166
24. The Bat in the Belfry (Friday, January 7, 1898) 171
25. Bloody Spring (Friday, March 11, 1898) 189
26. “It was a family affair and I killed her” (Wednesday, April 6, 1898) 193
27. “If I had been a good boy and obeyed my mother…” (Friday, May 27, 1898) 198
28. The Hunchback of San Quentin (Friday, October 14, 1898) 203
29. The Final Noose (Friday, October 21, 1898) 209
30. The End of the Line (January 23–October 7, 1899) 215
31. Descent (October 23, 1899–September 20, 1901) 224
32. Hangman’s Friday (Friday, September 20, 1901) 229
33. Fates of the Major Characters 231
34. Twenty-One Ghosts: The Man Behind the Myth 239
Appendix 1: Chronological List of Executions Performed by Amos Lunt 249
Appendix 2: The Drop 250
Appendix 3: “The Official Table of Drops” 255
Chapter Notes 257
Bibliography 277
Index 279

“Highly recommended”—Argunners Magazine