William Jackson Marion
William Jackson Marion was held in the Gage County jail in Beatrice, Nebraska, and was hanged near the courthouse in March 1887 in an execution attended by a crowd. He maintained his innocence to the end, and a museum director said he was a model prisoner who asked to see how the hanging mechanism worked. Some newspapers at the time questioned the case, which rested on circumstantial evidence, and in 1891 the man he was said to have killed was found alive in Kansas. Governor Bob Kerrey signed a pardon for him in 1987, after his grandson Elbert spent years clearing his name. His descendants gathered for a family reunion in 2012 and at his grave on the 125th anniversary of his execution, and a great-grandson later provided a tombstone for his unmarked grave.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state. Objections to the execution: he maintained his innocence, the case rested on circumstantial evidence, and the man said to have been killed was later found alive; Governor Bob Kerrey pardoned him in 1987.
Reported by: Gage County court (court); Gage County sheriff's execution (the agency that held him).