Executed
John Bland
John Bland was hanged at St. Charles, Missouri, on June 6, 1879, in a death the Chicago Daily Tribune reported before a crowd it put at 10,000. The paper said that on the way from the jail to the scaffold he knocked down his spiritual advisor and other attendants before being overpowered. According to the same report, he confessed on the scaffold and died within minutes of the drop. Officials called out the militia to stop a crowd that was reported to be planning to seize another jailed man.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state
Reported by: news reports.