WALKED CALMLY TO THE GALLOWS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 490, 20 October 1928, Page 9

WALKED CALMLY TO THE GALLOWS

HICKMAN EXECUTED —FINDS SOLACE IN THE GRAMOPHONE

(United P.A. — By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 9.5 a.m. SAN FRANCISCO, Fri. At St. Quentin prison, California, Edward Hickman was hanged for the murder of Marian Parker. Hickman walked calmly to the gallows, apparently quite self-possessed, before over 200 witnesses. The young murderer, prior to his execution, spent a considerable part of the night talking to the guards. He related the story of his life, and said he killed the girl for greed, because he wanted the ransom. He added: “If they should not hang me, then they should never hang another man. My crime was one of the most gruesome in history.**

He slept little on the final night, spending his time playing the gramophone when he was not talking to the guards. Hickman embraced religion following his conviction.

Few crimes have aroused America as did Hickman’s ghastly deed. Marian Parker, aged 12. the daughter of a wealthy Los Angeles banker, was kidnapped and murdered last December, and her mutilated body returned to her parents upon payment of ransom. The girl was taken from school. A telephone message then instructed her father to drive to a certain place for her. She was sitting in a car with a man, to whom he paid 1,500 dollars. The man drove a short distance, lifted the apparently sleeping girl from the car to the ground, and rapidly sped away. The father ran to the place. He found his daughter dead, and shockingly mutilated. Then came such a man-hunt as even America seldom has known, and the youth Hickman was arrested. It seemed that he had been dismissed from Parker’s bank, where he had acted as a clerk, and resolved on this dreadful revenge. At his trial an insanity plea failed.