Visitor Creator
The second installment in our Murder To Movies collection by San Francisco true-crime historian and author Paul Drexler.
“Take deep breaths, it’s simpler,” says the jail guard to Barbara Graham, as she is strapped into the gasoline chamber. “How would you understand? “ she replies bitterly. That is the ultimate scene in “I Want to Live,” the film which gained Susan Hayward, enjoying Barbara Graham, an Academy Award. The reality of this film has been questioned, however the presentation of Barbara’s closing days in San Quentin is disturbingly correct.
Barbara died only some miles from Oakland, her birthplace, the place she was born in 1923. What a brief unhappy journey her life had been. Barbara’s mom, Hortense Wooden, was a 15-year-old prostitute, who seen her daughter as an annoying burden.
When Barbara was two years outdated, Hortense was despatched to The Ventura College for Ladies, a reformatory in Southern California. Barbara was shuttled round to an assortment of detached caretakers till her mom returned.
Barbara began appearing out as a young person and was additionally despatched to her mom’s alma mater, the Ventura College. Launched in 1939 she married a US Coast Guardsman, went to enterprise faculty, and had her first two youngsters. The wedding didn’t work out and her husband acquired custody of their youngsters. Barbara was jailed in San Diego for “lewd and disorderly conduct” in 1942 and for prostitution in 1944.
She labored briefly for legendary madam Sally Stanford in 1945, however Barbara quickly drifted into drug use and lured males into crooked playing video games. In 1950, Mark Monroe and Thomas Sitler two ex-San Quentin thugs crashed into Sally Stanford’s bed room and pistol-whipped Sally demanding cash. Sally broke free, ran to the window, and began screaming. The robbers ran out and have been quickly arrested. Although Barbara barely knew Monroe she agreed to provide him an alibi. Her testimony was simply debunked and the lads have been convicted of theft. Barbara was convicted of perjury and served a yr in jail.
No matter want Barbara needed to reform ended when her mom Hortense revealed her prison background and informed Barbara’s parole officer she was an unfit mom.
In 1953 she married for the fourth time and had a baby with Henry Graham, a drug-addicted bartender with shady buddies.
Two killers whose lives performed out thirty years aside, in barricaded New York Metropolis residences, accompanied by the sound of bullets, the odor of tear gasoline, and the angered dedication of police. Paul Drexler opens this fascinating collection with two fascinating real-crime tales that went on to be gripping films.
Unhealthy style in males has been the downfall of many ladies, however not often has anybody chosen as poorly as Barbara. Henry’s buddies, Jack Santos and Emmet Perkins have been vicious killers, and not using a shred of regret or compassion. Barbara moved in with Emmet Perkins after leaving her husband and lured males into his playing video games. By means of the jail grapevine, Perkins and Santos heard about Mrs. Mabel Monahan, a rich girl who had been the mother-in-law of a Las Vegas gambler. It was rumored that she stored $100,000 of his cash in a protected in her home.
Mabel Monahan, nonetheless, was no naïve, trusting outdated girl. She was an ex-vaudevillian, had lived in Las Vegas, and was pleasant with numerous gamblers. There was no manner she would open her door to an odd man. That’s the one motive Barbara was introduced alongside on this rating. Her job was to trick Mabel into opening her entrance door. John True and Baxter Shorter, two safecrackers, have been added to the crew.
The theft was a complete catastrophe. There was no protected in the home. The robbers brutally beat Mrs. Monahan, taped a pillowcase over her head, and put her within the closet. Baxter Shorter didn’t take part within the homicide and tried to cease Mrs. Monahan from being crushed. Though the thieves ransacked the home, they missed a handbag containing jewellery and $400 in one of many closets and left empty-handed. Mrs. Monahan died of asphyxiation and was found two days later.
Shortly after, Baxter was questioned as a part of the homicide investigation. To be able to escape a attainable homicide rap, Baxter informed police of the crime and agreed to testify in opposition to the others. Sadly for Baxter, somebody leaked his testimony to Santo and Perkins who killed him and buried him someplace within the San Jacinto Mountains.
Police positioned and arrested Santo, Perkins, Graham, and True.
In change for immunity, John True, who had no prison report, agreed to testify in opposition to his co-defendants.
Though Barbara was the least vital individual within the crime, she turned an important attraction on the trial. A “YAWK” (younger engaging girl killer) is God’s present to Newspapers.
The trial choose was Charles Fricke, often known as a “hanging choose. Fricke who despatched extra individuals to California’s gasoline chamber than any choose in California historical past was a prosecutor’s dream.
Homicide circumstances verdicts typically depend upon whose story the jury likes finest. When it got here to telling her story, Barbara Graham was her personal worst enemy. As an alternative of dressing modestly, emphasizing her position as a mom, and appearing meek, Barbara wearing tight garments, talked powerful, and sat on the protection desk smoking and evident on the prosecution. She had fully internalized the prison code. She may simply have gotten a decreased sentence if she had agreed to testify in opposition to Santo and Perkins, nevertheless it by no means occurred to her to tell on her companions.
John True’s testimony was probably the most damaging to Barbara. He testified that it was Barbara, not Perkins who beat Mabel Monahan on the pinnacle with a pistol. The press began calling her “Bloody Babs” and the identify caught.
Beneath Barbara’s powerful exterior was a lady determined for acceptance and simple to control. In jail, whereas awaiting trial, she had an affair with Donna Prow, a younger girl serving a yr for manslaughter. Donna, in change for her launch, put Barbara in contact with a “fixer,” a person who would give Barbara an alibi for $25,000. The ”fixer” was actually an undercover policeman who later testified that Barbara had admitted being with Santo and Perkins on the night time of the homicide. When the jury discovered of Barbara’s affair with Donna, Barbara’s destiny was sealed. She had already been concerned in intercourse, medicine, and homicide; the unholy trinity of taboos in Fifties America. Now, on prime of that, Barbara was a lesbian!
After deliberating for simply 5 hours the jury introduced in a verdict of first-degree homicide in opposition to all three defendants. And not using a suggestion for clemency, the automated sentence was demise.
After Barbara’s conviction, Ed Montgomery, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the San Francisco Examiner, corresponded with Graham in jail, wrote a collection of articles questioning the decision and led an effort to save lots of her from the demise penalty. The hassle failed and Barbara was executed on June 4th, 1955. As she was led into the gasoline chamber, Barbara mentioned, “Good individuals are at all times so certain they’re proper.”
Montgomery’s articles turned the idea for “I Need to Dwell,” a considerably fictionalized model of Barbara Graham’s case. The film, which gained Susan Hayward an Oscar in 1958, raised doubt about Barbara’s participation within the crime and claims that she was dwelling along with her husband and youngster on the night time of the Monahan homicide.
Over time, Barbara Graham’s guilt has been a lot debated. Was she an harmless sufferer of the authorized system or a cold-blooded assassin? The reply lies someplace in between. It’s doubtless that Barbara’s position was to get Mabel Monahan to open her entrance door. However the concept that Barbara performed an energetic position within the homicide is extremely unlikely.
Graham was a basic “gun moll”. A gun moll’s job description is to be an adjunct, a gorgeous pawn. They carry and conceal weapons for his or her males, give them alibis, and supply unqualified assist. Graham’s crimes, prostitution, minor con video games, perjury, have been all nonviolent. She had by no means earlier than accompanied Santos and Perkins on a hold-up.
Santos and Perkins, alternatively, had dedicated at the least six murders. They as soon as bludgeoned to demise three younger youngsters and their father after a theft.“ Let’s face it,” Santos admitted on demise row, “I’ve been an actual stinker.”
So why did John True testify that Barbara Graham took an energetic and violent position within the killing? True was testifying for his life and saving himself was his solely concern. His testimony about what occurred to Mrs. Monahan was correct apart from his forged of characters. True recast the a part of the attacker, performed by Perkins within the precise crime, with Barbara Graham. And he forged himself within the position of Baxter Shorter, who tried to guard Monahan’s.
True’s testimony was false however efficient. By casting Graham as “Bloody Babs,” True made himself the one relatable individual among the many robbers. Baxter Shorter, the one one who may contradict him, was useless. Barbara Graham’s protection argument claimed that she wasn’t on the theft, so she couldn’t inform the reality, and Perkins and Santos weren’t testifying.
Was Barbara Graham responsible of homicide? Legally, anybody who participates in homicide is responsible, whether or not or not that they had something to do with the precise killing. However given the information,
It’s uncertain {that a} jury would have advisable the demise penalty.
The discharge of I Need to Dwell reignited the battle in opposition to capital punishment, together with
Caryl Chessman, who was additionally despatched to the gasoline chamber by Choose Fricke.
Chessman, who wrote the bestselling,” “Dying Cell 2455,” in 1954 from San Quentin’s demise row, was the poster boy for abolishing the demise penalty. His e book, together with Barbara Graham’s execution, made capital punishment a private campaign for tens of millions. His battle for all times was worldwide information till his execution in 1960.
Barbara’s prosecutors made it a follow to blacken Barbara’s identify to blunt her emotional attraction. They hid John True’s unique confession as a result of it conflicted together with his trial testimony and leaked false tales claiming Barbara had confessed her guilt to the warden of San Quentin. So, Barbara, who lived as a pawn to criminals, turned a pawn in demise for each side within the capital punishment battle. And, as any chess participant is aware of, pawns are simply sacrificed.
Concerning the Creator: Paul Drexler is a author and crime historian in San Francisco. He commonly writes for the San Francisco Examiner together with his column ‘Infamous Crooks’ and he’s the Director of Crooks Excursions of San Francisco providing strolling excursions of the town and its prison historical past. Paul has appeared in numerous documentaries for the Discovery ID community and on Paramount TV the place he featured as an professional on the Zodiac Killer.
Learn the primary half on this Homicide to Motion pictures collection here.
Learn Paul Drexler’s fascinating true crime e book ‘Notorious San Francisco: True Tales Of Crime, Passion, and Murder’ a fast-paced assortment of largely untold true crime tales uncovering the darkish secrets and techniques of San Francisco’s previous. Learn Crime Traveller’s evaluate here.
“Straightforward to learn in a free-flowing narrative, Drexler’s years of analysis and writing on San Francisco’s crime historical past shines by means of. His talent is telling these historic tales in a manner that brings them to life with each one being as juicy, vigorous and fascinating as the subsequent with twists and turns match for any modern-day documentary.”
Crime Traveller is a proud media accomplice of CrimeCon UK Coming again to London in June 2022! 11-12 June 2022 on the Leonardo Royal Resort & Spa, St Paul’s. Over 70 hours of distinctive true crime content material throughout one wonderful weekend. Get all the small print and a lot extra at www.crimecon.co.uk. Keep in mind to make use of code CT22 to get a ten% low cost in your tickets!