Dora Wright

Case record: Dora Wright

Dora Wright was executed by hanging at McAlester on July 17, 1903.

Victim

The victim was Annie Williams, described as a 7-year-old girl. Dora Wright had been acting as her guardian.

The offence

The conviction concerned the murder of Annie Williams. The material described that Annie Williams had been beaten severely for months, with old scars on her body. The material also stated that some scars indicated that Annie Williams had been tortured with a red-hot poker. It stated that Dora Wright finally whipped Annie Williams so severely that she died.

The material also described Wright as torturing and beating Annie Williams over several months, including branding with a red-hot poker. It further stated that Wright struck Annie Williams about the hand and face so as to cause wounds sufficient to produce death, and it described that Wright burned holes in Annie Williams’s legs and thighs with a heated poker.

Investigation, prosecution, and evidence

An Oklahoma jury took 20 minutes to find Dora Wright guilty of the child’s murder. The material stated that the jury declined to recommend life imprisonment.

The material described testimony as showing that Dora Wright “pursued a course of cruelty which was fiendish and barbarous …”.

Trial

On May 30, 1903, an Oklahoma jury found Dora Wright guilty of the child’s murder. The jury declined to recommend life imprisonment.

Sentencing

Dora Wright was sentenced to die after the jury declined to recommend life imprisonment.

Execution and public execution details

Dora Wright was hanged on Friday, July 17, 1903. The material described the execution as public and carried out in South McAlester, in Indian Territory.

The material stated that Wright “mounted the scaffold without a tremor.”

The material also described that the execution took place alongside Charles Barrett.

Co-accused / other execution at the same time

Charles Barrett was hanged at the same time for a separate murder. The material stated that Barrett was executed for the murder of John Hennessy, an aged man whom he shot from ambush. The material also stated that robbery was the motive in Barrett’s case.

Clemency considerations and quotations

The material stated that Indian Territory jurisdiction applied and that executive clemency fell to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.

The material included a quotation from U.S. Attorney General Philander Knox’s brief on the case to the President, released for press consumption:

The real facts in this case are that this woman tortured to death a little child seven years old, her niece, whom she was pretending to care for and support. She whipped the child most unmercifully with large switches, struck it about the hand and face so as to cause wounds sufficient to produce death, burned holes in its legs and thighs with a heated poker, and committed other nameless atrocities upon the person of the child. The testimony shows that the woman pursued a course of cruelty which was fiendish and barbarous … The only ground upon which her pardon is sought is that she is a woman, and that the infliction of the death penalty upon a woman would be a shock to the moral sense of the people in the community.

The material then quoted Theodore Roosevelt:

If that woman was mean enough to do a thing like that, she ought to have the nerve to meet her punishment.

Other details

A local paper described the crime as “the most horrible and outrageous” ever committed in that area. The material reported that the paper described Wright as a “Demon” and a “Fiend”.

The material described Wright as being described in the press as “the negress,” and it also stated that she was actually of American Indian origin.

The material stated that Dora Wright was 31.

The material stated that Wright had been accused of whipping the 7-year-old white girl Annie Williams until she died of her injuries.

The material described that, “Just before 7 a.m. both prisoners were given a drop of 7 feet and died without a struggle.” It referred to both Dora Wright and Charles Barrett.

The material stated that Dora Wright was “the first woman ever hung in this section.” It also described her as the first woman to be hanged in the 20th century when she was put to death in 1903.

A paper publication date included in the material was July 23, 1903. Another included date was July 18, from South McAlester, I. T. (Indian Territory).