Some say Carl Panzram was a victim of the penal system, while others
say he was born bad. Whatever he was, he was an unrepentant,
incorrigible criminal.
His criminal career started at an early age. At age eight he was
arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct. At age eleven, he was
put into reform school for burglaries. Carl didn't like this, and
proceeded to burn down the reform school, causing over $100,000
worth of damage. According to Carl, he learned all of his criminal
attributes in reform schools and prisons, and proceeded to use this
knowledge on anyone and everyone who crossed his path.
After serving a three year sentence at Leavenworth Prison, he went
on a killing spree which spanned two continents. On one occasion he
hired eight black workers to help him hunt crocodiles in Africa.
Instead, he killed the men, sodomized their dead bodies, and fed
them to the crocodiles. On another occasion he rented a yacht and
invited sailors aboard, promising them free liquor. Carl drugged,
raped, and slit the throats off all the sailors, then threw their
bodies overboard.
On June 16, 1928, he strangled a New York woman for fun. Then on
August 16, 1928 he was arrested for a string of burglaries and sent
back to Leavenworth Prison. He said once in prison, he would kill
the first person who crossed him. His unsuspecting victim was
Robert Warnke, a laundry foreman in the prison. He crushed his
skull on June 20, 1929, and was sentenced to hang for this crime.
While awaiting his sentence during the last part of 1929, Carl
confessed to 21 murders, countless felonies, and more than one
thousand acts of sodomy. No one was aware of these crimes until he
confessed to them. He said "for all these things, I am not the
least bit sorry."
On September 5, 1930, he was hung, but as the executioner prepared
the noose, Carl taunted "Hurry it up, you bastard, I could hang a
dozen men while you're fooling around."
