Kenneth (kensmind) wrote in potus_geeks,
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Presidential X-Files: The President and the Serial Killer

One of my favorite Presidential trivia questions is: Which President's gun was used by a serial killer to commit some of his murders? I bet this one stumps a lot of people.

Carl Panzram was an American serial killer who claimed to have killed 21 people, some of them young boys. He was such an evil man that when he was given a 25-year sentence at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, he told the Warden "I'll kill the first man that bothers me." That's just what he did. On June 20, 1929 he killed Robert Warnke, foreman of the prison laundry by beating him to death with an iron bar. Panzram was sentenced to death. He refused to appeal, even threatening to kill human rights groups that attempted to appeal on his behalf. He was hanged on September 5, 1930. When asked by the executioner if he had any last words, Panzram barked, "Yes, hurry up, you Hoosier bastard! I could kill ten men while you're fooling around!"



What does this have to do with Presidential history? Well it seems that several of Panzram's murders were committed with a pistol that Panzram stole from then Secretary of War and future President William Howard Taft. Besides being a murderer, Panzram was also a prolific thief, and he was frequently caught and imprisoned. Panzram served a jail sentence from 1908 to 1910 at Fort Leavenworth's United States Disciplinary Barracks for larceny shortly after enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1907. William Howard Taft was then Secretary of War and approved the sentence.

In subsequent retaliation in August 1920, Panzram robbed Taft's New Haven home located at 113 Whitney Avenue. It was an old three-story colonial. He broke in through a window and began to ransack the bedrooms. Inside a spacious den, Panzram found a large amount of jewelry, some bonds in Taft's name, and a .45 caliber automatic handgun. Panzram then used Taft's gun to commit several murders. Panzram said that he did this to get revenge on Taft for approving his incarceration. Panzram later wrote that “out of this robbery I got about $3,000 in cash and kept some of the stuff including the .45 Colt automatic. With that money I bought a yacht, the Akista.” He registered the boat under the name John O’Leary, the alias he used while he was living in the New York area.

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Taft was lucky that all Panzram did to him was steal his stuff. Panzram's m.o. was to lure sailors from bars and sodomize them before killing them. He claimed he did this, not because he was homosexual but because it was his method of dominating and humiliating his victims.

In 1928 Panzram was arrested for burglary in Washington, D.C. During his interrogation he confessed to killing two boys. He received a sentence of 25-years-to-life and was incarcerated at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. When he arrived there, he told the warden, "I'll kill the first man that bothers me," so he was given a solitary job in the prison laundry room. But on June 20, 1929 he killed Robert Warnke, the foreman of the prison laundry, beating him to death with an iron bar. Panzram was given a death sentence for the crime. He refused to appeal his sentence, and threatened to kill the human rights activists who offered to intervene on his behalf. Panzram was hanged on September 5, 1930. While the noose was being put around his neck, he allegedly spat in his executioner's face and declared, "I wish the entire human race had one neck and I had my hands around it!" When asked if he had any last words, Panzram replied, "Yes, hurry up you Hoosier bastard! I could kill a dozen men while you're fooling around!"
Tags: william howard taft
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