Wisconsin's only legal execution took place on Aug. 21, 1851, when John McCaffary was hanged in Kenosha for drowning his wife.
Thousands of spectators, including some of the state's leading citizens, came to watch, and they saw a particularly gruesome spectacle as McCaffary hung from the gallows, kicking and twitching, for nearly 20 minutes.
Kenosha Telegraph Editor Christopher Sholes was among the spectators, and he was appalled. He wrote, "The last agony is over. The crowd have been indulged in its insane passion for the sight of a judicially murdered man. . . . We do not complain that the law has been enforced. We complain that the law exists. . . . We hope this will be the last execution that shall ever disgrace the mercy- expecting citizens of the State of Wisconsin."
Sholes quickly mobilized against the death penalty. He ran for and won a seat in the Assembly, where he argued against state-sponsored executions. His counterpart in the Senate was Waukesha farmer Marvin Bovee, who pushed through a bill in 1853 to abolish capital punishment.
The Assembly then passed the Death Penalty Repeal Act on March 9 by a 36-28 vote. On July 8, the Senate concurred, 14-9, and two days later Gov. Leonard Farwell signed the bill into law.
Sholes went on to invent the typewriter, and Bovee became a lifelong reformer. Attempts to overturn their legislation have failed numerous times, and John McCaffary remains the only person executed by the state of Wisconsin.
- Wisconsin Historical Society
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org
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