Executed
Charlie Birger
Charlie Birger was hanged on April 19, 1928, at the gallows in Benton, Illinois, near the Franklin County Jail, where he was held. Local family stories describe him as a man who would lend a helping hand to neighbors in Saline County. According to a Carbondale Free Press account, about 500 people watched as he walked to the scaffold at an easy pace, shaking hands along the way. That account describes him as the last person publicly hanged in Illinois. Visitors to the Franklin County Jail Museum often share family connections to his story.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state
Reported by: Carbondale Free Press (reporters).