He Hung 'Em High: Boudinot “Blood Burris” Crumpton saw his future in the bottom of a whiskey glass

Boudinot “Blood Burris” Crumpton

June 30, 1891 — A number of those facing hanging by the court went to the gallows silently and defiantly while other had to be dragged to meet their maker.

But all of the condemned were allowed to address the assembled crowd with “final last words” before the hood was slipped over their heads.

Boudinot Crumpton, also known as “Blood Burris” was an outlaw that “liked to pull the plug” on a whisky bottle and in a drunken rage one-night shot and killed his traveling companion., Sam Morgan.

There were no juries for capital murder cases in Parker's court--and the only effective appeals were to the White House -- and when the white-haired judge slammed the gavel down, Crumpton's fate had been sealed.

Crumpton proclaimed his innocence right up until the moment he addressed the assembled spectators on June 30, 1891 in the midst of what was still a citywide public spectacle.

“To all present, and especially young men; when you are about to drink a glass of whiskey, look closely in the bottom and see if you cannot observe therein a hangman’s noose”, were Crumpton’s final last words. “There is where I first saw the one which now breaks my neck.”