List of people executed in North Dakota

Last updated December 25, 2025

The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of North Dakota from 1885 to 1905.

Name	Race	Age	Sex	Date of execution	Crime	Victim(s)	Governor
George Miller	White	19	M	October 30, 1885	Murder	Abbie Snell and Herbert Snell, white	Gilbert A. Pierce
Albert Bomberger	White	22	M	January 19, 1894	Murder-Rape-Robbery	Six people, white^[a]	Eli C. D. Shortridge
James W. Cole	Black	38	M	March 24, 1899	Murder	Sophronia Ford, 14, black	Frederick B. Fancher
Hans Thorpe	White	66	M	September 14, 1900	Murder	Ida Thorpe, white (wife)
Ira Jenkins	White	25	M	September 14, 1900	Murder-Robbery	August Stark, 25/26, white
Jacob L. Bassanella	White	25	M	February 20, 1903	Murder-Robbery	Anton Heilinger, white^[b]	Frank White
William R. Ross	White		M	December 5, 1903	Murder-Robbery	Thomas Walsh, 61, white^[c]	Frank White
John Rooney	White	25	M	October 17, 1905	Murder-Robbery	Harold Cleve Sweet, 20s, white	Elmore Y. Sarles

References

↑ Death Penalty Information Center
↑ "Capital crimes and criminals executed in northern Dakota Territory and North Dakota, 1885-1905". State of North Dakota Courts. Archived from the original on October 18, 2018. Retrieved August 18, 2019.

Notes

↑ Daniel Kreider, 36, Barbara Kreider, 36, and four of their children: Bernice 13, Murby, 11, Mary 9, and David, 7.
↑ Also murdered Anton Anderson in 1901. His brother, Joseph Bassanella, was convicted of Anderson's murder and received a life sentence. However, Jacob escaped from custody prior to his trial. He revealed his identity after his second arrest.
↑ Confessed to his involvement in the murder of Napoleon LeMay in 1900 on the day before his scheduled execution. He implicated Carl Hanson, who was convicted for his role n the murder and received a life sentence. Hanson, who maintained his innocence, was pardoned in 1910.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[autogenerated1-1] Death Penalty Information Center

[2] "Capital crimes and criminals executed in northern Dakota Territory and North Dakota, 1885-1905". State of North Dakota Courts. Archived from the original on October 18, 2018. Retrieved August 18, 2019.

[3] Daniel Kreider, 36, Barbara Kreider, 36, and four of their children: Bernice 13, Murby, 11, Mary 9, and David, 7.

[4] Also murdered Anton Anderson in 1901. His brother, Joseph Bassanella, was convicted of Anderson's murder and received a life sentence. However, Jacob escaped from custody prior to his trial. He revealed his identity after his second arrest.

[5] Confessed to his involvement in the murder of Napoleon LeMay in 1900 on the day before his scheduled execution. He implicated Carl Hanson, who was convicted for his role n the murder and received a life sentence. Hanson, who maintained his innocence, was pardoned in 1910.

[1]

[2]

[a]

[b]

[c]

v t e Capital punishment in the United States
Jurisdictions	Federal government Military Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming American Samoa Guam Puerto Rico Washington, D.C.
People executed by state	Federal government Military Alabama (pre-1972) Arizona (pre-1972) Arkansas (pre-1972) California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida (pre-1972) Georgia (pre-1972) Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky (pre-1972) Louisiana (pre-1972) Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi (pre-1972) Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina (pre-1972) North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma (pre-1972) Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina (pre-1972) South Dakota Tennessee Texas 2020–present Utah Vermont Virginia (pre-1972) Washington (pre-1972) West Virginia Wyoming Washington, D.C.
People executed by year	1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965–1972 1976–1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Scheduled executions
Issues and ethics	Botched executions Death-qualified jury Debate Dual sovereignty doctrine Execution drug shortage Exonerations Juveniles Last meal Participation of medical professionals Race and capital punishment White defendants executed for killing a black victim Wrongful executions
Other	Death row inmates Death row inmates who have exhausted their appeals Death Penalty Information Center Most recent executions by state National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Supreme Court decisions on capital punishment Women executed since 1976 Women on death row

List of people executed in North Dakota

Contents

See also

References

Notes