List of people executed in the United States in 1955

Seventy-nine people, seventy-eight male and one female, were executed in the United States in 1955, fifty-three by electrocution, twenty-one by gas chamber, four by hanging, and one by firing squad. ^[1]

List of people executed in the United States in 1955

No.	Date of execution	Name	Age of person			Gender	Ethnicity	State	Method	Ref.
			At execution	At offense	Age difference
1	January 4, 1955	Frank J. Roscus	35	33	2	Male	White	New Jersey	Electrocution	[2]
2	January 7, 1955	James Willie Morgan	18	17	1			Georgia		[3]
3	January 11, 1955	Eugene Monahan	45	43	2			New Jersey		[4]
4	January 12, 1955	Donald Hawkins Brown	26	24				Texas		[5]
5	January 14, 1955	Tom Johnson	42	39	3		Black	Louisiana		[6]
6	February 4, 1955	Walter Thomas Byrd	43	41	2		White	California	Gas chamber	[7]
7	February 10, 1955	Henry Matthews	18	16				New York	Electrocution	[8]
8	February 11, 1955	John Richard Jensen	29	28	1			California	Gas chamber	[9]
9	February 17, 1955	Romulo Rosario	38	36	2		Hispanic	New York	Electrocution	[10]
10	March 1, 1955	Chastine Beverly	25	21	4		Black	U.S. military	Hanging	[11]
11		James L. Riggins	28	24
12		Louis M. Suttles	26	22
13	March 3, 1955	Gerald Albert Gallego		26	0		White	Mississippi	Gas chamber	[12]
14	March 4, 1955	Carl James Folk Sr.	56	55	1			Arizona		[13]
15		Allen Donaldson	28	26	2		Black	Mississippi		[14]
16	March 18, 1955	Roy Tarrance	49	45	4		White	Kentucky	Electrocution	[15]
17		Leonard Tarrance	25	22	3
18	April 1, 1955	Dock Booker	46	44	2		Black	Missouri	Gas chamber	[15]
19	April 15, 1955	Howard Jackson	44	42				Georgia	Electrocution	[16]
20		Tom Williams	46	45	1					[1]
21		Arthur Waitus	37	33	4			South Carolina		[17]
22		Samuel Thomas Voss	29	27	2			Tennessee		[18]
23	April 18, 1955	John H. McVeigh	34	32			White	Florida		[1]
24	April 25, 1955	Grover Cleveland Edwards	35	33				Pennsylvania
25		Benjamin Franklin Robinson	36	35	1		Black
26	April 28, 1955	August Charles LaFontaine	24	23			White	Mississippi	Gas chamber	[19]
27	May 3, 1955	Jose Philippinos Cruz	26	25			Asian	New Jersey	Electrocution	[20]
28		Felipe Nieves Rios	29	28
29		Joaquin Rodriguez	33	32
30	May 6, 1955	Johnson William Caldwell					White	California	Gas chamber	[21]
31	May 13, 1955	Leonard Jessie Baldwin	32	29	3					[22]
32	May 18, 1955	Anthony J. Zilbauer	52	51	1					[23]
33	May 20, 1955	Harry Francis Butcher Jr.	29	28				Texas	Electrocution	[1]
34	June 3, 1955	Barbara Elaine Graham	31	29	2	Female		California	Gas chamber	[24]
35		Emmett Raymond Perkins	46	44		Male
36		John Albert Santo	54	52
37	June 8, 1955	Henry William Meyer	65	63				Texas	Electrocution	[25]
38	June 10, 1955	Robert Lee Sauls Jr.	31	29			Black	Louisiana		[26]
39		William C. Thomas	32	30				Maryland	Hanging	[1]
40	June 17, 1955	Sylvester Fuller	25	Unknown	Unknown			Georgia	Electrocution
41	June 20, 1955	John E. Wiggins	59	58	1			Mississippi	Gas chamber	[27]
42	June 23, 1955	Mack C. Lewis	21	19	2					[28]
43	July 1, 1955	Don Jesse Neal	35	31	4		White	Utah	Firing squad	[1]
44	July 9, 1955	Calman Cooper	47	42	5			New York	Electrocution	[29]
45		Harry Stein	57	52
46		Nathan Wissner	43	38
47	July 11, 1955	William J. Lorain	34	31	3			Connecticut		[30]
48		William Maxwell Jr.	28	26	2		Black	Pennsylvania		[1]
49	July 14, 1955	Alonzo Russell	42	41	1			Virginia		[31]
50	July 15, 1955	Richard Scales	29	28				North Carolina	Gas chamber	[32]
51	July 18, 1955	John Bourne Donahue	22	20	2		White	Connecticut	Electrocution	[33]
52		Robert Nelson Malm	31	30	1
53	July 25, 1955	Patrick Alexander Lance						Pennsylvania		[34]
54		Elijah Thompson Jr.	23	22			Black			[35]
55	August 1, 1955	Harry E. Kirkendoll	33	31	2			Tennessee		[36]
56		Charlie N. Sullins	38	36			White
57	August 18, 1955	Floyd Ray Jackson	21	20	1		Black	Texas		[1]
58	August 19, 1955	Walter Johnson	19	18				Mississippi	Gas chamber	[37]
59	August 29, 1955	Louis Gillard	54	Unknown	Unknown			Florida	Electrocution	[1]
60	August 31, 1955	Lester Edward Bartholomew	38	38	0		White	Arizona	Gas chamber	[38]
61	September 2, 1955	Alfred Stokes	24	22	2		Black	New Jersey	Electrocution	[39]
62		Harry Wise	23	21
63		Albert Wise	24	23	1
64	September 8, 1955	Edward J. Nichols	28	27	1			New York		[1]
65		Clarence M. Reed	32	31
66	September 15, 1955	Robert Logan Crenshaw Jr.	42	41				Tennessee
67	September 16, 1955	Ed Milam	25	24				Kentucky		[40]
68	September 20, 1955	Harold Euin Berry	28	26	2		White	California	Gas chamber	[41]
69	September 26, 1955	George Lee Capps	24	22				Pennsylvania	Electrocution	[42]
70		John Wesley Wable	26	23	3					[43]
71	October 7, 1955	Marvin H. Chasteen	41	39	2			South Carolina		[44]
72	October 31, 1955	Chester Forster Dyer	20	19	1			Florida		[1]
73	December 2, 1955	Willie Junior Daniels	24	24	0		Black	South Carolina		[45]
74		Clay Daniels	23	23
75	December 9, 1955	Murry Garfield Gilmore	32	31	1		White	Mississippi	Gas chamber	[46]
76	December 12, 1955	Samuel J. Hornbeck	38	36	2			Florida	Electrocution	[47]
77	December 18, 1955	Mose Robinson	21	20	1		Black	Mississippi	Gas chamber	[48]
78	December 23, 1955	Chester Howard Merrifield	37	34	3		White	Kentucky	Electrocution	[49]
79		David Nichols	55	54	1		Black			[1]

Demographics

Gender
Male	78	99%
Female	1	1%
Ethnicity
White	40	51%
Black	35	44%
Asian	3	4%
Hispanic	1	1%
State
California	9	11%
Mississippi	8	10%
New Jersey	8	10%
New York	7	9%
Pennsylvania	7	9%
Kentucky	5	6%
Florida	4	5%
Georgia	4	5%
South Carolina	4	5%
Tennessee	4	5%
Texas	4	5%
Connecticut	3	4%
U.S. military	3	4%
Arizona	2	3%
Louisiana	2	3%
Maryland	1	1%
Missouri	1	1%
North Carolina	1	1%
Utah	1	1%
Virginia	1	1%
Method
Electrocution	53	67%
Gas chamber	21	27%
Hanging	4	5%
Firing squad	1	1%
Month
January	5	6%
February	4	5%
March	8	10%
April	9	11%
May	7	9%
June	9	11%
July	12	15%
August	6	8%
September	10	13%
October	2	3%
November	0	0%
December	7	9%
Age
10–19	3	4%
20–29	32	41%
30–39	23	29%
40–49	13	16%
50–59	7	9%
60–69	1	1%
Total	79	100%

Executions in recent years

Number of executions
1956	65
1955	79
1954	83
Total	227

References

1. "Executions in the U.S. 1608-2002: The ESPY File" (PDF). Death Penalty Information Center . Retrieved June 23, 2025.
2. "State v. Roscus". Justia Law.
3. "Summary of the execution of James Morgan". M. E. Grenander Special Collections & Archives.
4. "State v. Monahan". Justia Law.
5. "Killer's 'chair' appeal". The Argus. January 13, 1955. p. 2.
6. "State v. Johnson". Justia Law.
7. "People v. Byrd". Justia Law.
8. "Youth Executed in Sing Sing". The New York Times. February 11, 1955.
9. "Jensen, who killed first at 14, goes to his death". The San Bernardino County Sun via newspapers.com. February 12, 1955. p. 3.
10. "Chair Takes Rosario, Who Bared Plot To Empty Death House". Daily News via newspapers.com. February 18, 1955. p. 398.
11. "Three Soldiers Are Hanged For Slaying". Decatur Daily Democrat. March 1, 1955. p. 2.
12. "Gallego v. State". Justia Law.
13. "Torture Slayer of Woman Executed in Arizona". Evening Star via newspapers.com. March 4, 1955. p. 8.
14. "Gas Chamber Claims Negro". Clarion-Ledger via newspapers.com. March 4, 1955. p. 1.
15. "Tarrence v. Commonwealth". Justia Law.
16. "Jackson v. State". CourtListener.
17. "The State v. Waitus". Justia Law.
18. "Voss v. State". Justia Law.
19. "Third Man Dies In Gas Chamber At Pen; Killed Fellow Inmate". Enterprise-Journal via newspapers.com. April 29, 1955. p. 1.
20. "State v. Rios". vLex.
21. "People v. Caldwell". Stanford Law School.
22. "People v. Baldwin". Justia Law.
23. "People v. Zilbauer". Justia Law.
24. "Barbara Graham, John A. Santo, and Emmett R. Perkins, Appellants, v. H. O. Teets, Warden, California State Penitentiary, San Quentin, California, Appellee, 223 F.2d 680 (9th Cir. 1955)". Justia Law.
25. "'Man With Iron Nerves' Dies in Electric Chair". Corpus Christi Caller-Times via newspapers.com. June 8, 1955. p. 4.
26. "State v. Sauls". Justia Law.
27. "Wiggins v. State". Justia Law.
28. "Mack C. Lewis Put To Death In Gas Chamber". Sun Herald via newspapers.com. June 24, 1955. p. 1.
29. "3 DIGEST KILLERS DIE AT SING SING; Pay Penalty for '50 Hold-Up Slaying--De Luca Denies Final Clemency Plea". The New York Times. July 10, 1955.
30. "State v. Lorain". vLex.
31. "Va. Negro Executed For Slaying". Lebanon News. July 21, 1955. p. 6.
32. "State v. Scales". Justia Law.
33. "Two Slayers Die, Both Calm To the Last, Facing Chair". The Bridgeport Post via newspapers.com. July 19, 1955. p. 38.
34. "Commonwealth v. Lance". Justia Law.
35. "Slayer of Girl is Sentenced to Die". The News-Herald via newspapers.com. January 21, 1955. p. 1.
36. "Kirkendoll v. State". Justia Law.
37. "Johnson v. State". Justia Law.
38. "Death-Stilled Voice Returns At Rites". The Arizona Republic via newspapers.com. September 2, 1955. p. 15.
39. "State v. Wise". Justia Law.
40. "Milam v. Commonwealth". vLex.
41. "People v. Berry". vLex.
42. "Commonwealth v. Capps". Justia Law.
43. "Commonwealth v. Wable". Justia Law.
44. "State v. Chasteen". Justia Law.
45. "Doomed Man Breaks from Electric Chair, but Dies". Desert Sun. December 3, 1955. p. 3.
46. "Gilmore v. State". vLex.
47. "Hornbeck v. State". Justia Law.
48. "Robinson v. State". Justia Law.
49. "Chester Merrifield Executed". Lexington Herald-Leader via newspapers.com. December 23, 1955. p. 3.

Preceded by 1954

List of people executed       in the United States in    1955

Succeeded by 1956