Jake Bird (December 14, 1901 – July 15, 1949) was an American

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

who was executed in

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

for the 1947 murders of two women in

Tacoma Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, northwest of Mount ...

. He is also known to have murdered at least eleven other people across several states between 1930 and 1947. Prior to his execution Bird had implicated himself in up to 46 murders. In 1991,

criminologist Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...

Eric W. Hickey, Ph.D., Director of

Alliant International University Alliant International University is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit university with its main campus in San Diego, five additional campuses in California (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Irv ...

's Center for Forensic Studies, wrote about how the Bird case challenges stereotypes of serial killers, who are mostly thought to be Caucasian males, whereas

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

killers typically are associated with urban violence. Hickey wrote, "Revelations that Jake Bird, a black man, had actually stalked and killed dozens of white women in the 1940s in dozens of states...continue to challenge traditionally held profiles of serial killers."

Kludt murders

On October 30, 1947, the home of Bertha Kludt and her daughter, Beverly June Kludt, was broken into by an intruder brandishing an axe. When Bertha tried to pull out a weapon the perpetrator hacked her to death. Beverly Kludt was then murdered in the same fashion when she came downstairs to confront her mother's killer. Two police officers sent to the Tacoma residence to investigate reports of screams from inside, saw a man run out of the back door and subsequently gave chase. The suspect was captured and taken to the Tacoma City Jail, where he confessed to the killings and identified himself as Jake Bird, claiming the murders were the result of a botched burglary. The 45-year-old Bird had an extensive criminal record, including many counts of

burglary Burglary, also called breaking and entering (B&E) or housebreaking, is a property crime involving the illegal entry into a building or other area without permission, typically with the intention of committing a further criminal offence. Usually ...

and

attempted murder Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions. Canada Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seve ...

, and had been incarcerated for a total of 31 years in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

and

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. Bird was a transient who had been born in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

in a location he could not remember. He supported himself as a manual laborer and railroad

gandy dancer Gandy dancer is a slang term used for early railroad workers in the United States and Canada, more formally referred to as ''section hands'', who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines. The British ...

, who laid and maintained tracks. His work on the railroad kept him moving from place to place.

The Bird hex

On November 26, 1947, Bird was found guilty of two counts of first degree murder. The jury fixed his sentence as death. On December 6, 1947, Bird was sentenced to death by hanging. After a motion for a new trial was denied by the judge, one of Bird's lawyers, J.W. Selden, said he had done everything in his power to defend Bird and would make no further appeals on his behalf. Selden then declared: "I feel whenever any man 45-years-old gets an idea that no lives are safe to anyone, except his own, that man is a detriment to society and should be obliterated." After his conviction and death sentences were announced, Bird was allowed to make a final statement. He spoke for 20 minutes, noting that his request to represent himself had been denied and that his own lawyers were against him.

"I was given no chance to defend myself. My own lawyers just asked you to hang me. They apologized for defending me. If they were so reluctant to defend me, why did they contest the prosecutor’s proof of murder, and now say that everything is proven?"

At the end of his 20-minute impassioned speech, Bird declared that, "All you guys who had anything to do with this case are going to die before I do." This would become known as the "Jake Bird hex." Five people connected with the trial died from heart attacks within a year. Judge Edward D. Hodge, died on January 1, 1948, at the age of 69. Joseph E. Karpach and Sherman W. Lyons, both aged 46, died on April 5, 1948, and October 28, 1948, respectively. Both men had been involved in the taking of Bird's confessions. Court reporter George L. Harrigan, died on June 11, 1948, at the age of 69. J.W. Selden died on November 26, 1948, at the age of 76. A sixth man, Arthur A. Steward, a Washington State Penitentiary guard assigned to death row, died of pneumonia two months before Bird's execution.

Reprieve, appeals and execution

Bird's execution was scheduled for January 16, 1948, at the Washington State Penitentiary, but he claimed to have committed 44 other murders and offered his assistance to the authorities in solving the cases. Consequently, Washington governor Monrad C. Wallgren granted him a 60-day reprieve and Bird was interviewed by police officers from several other states. Eleven murders were substantiated and Bird was knowledgeable enough about the remaining cases to be considered a prime suspect in all of them. These interviews enabled the various police departments to declare many outstanding murder cases as solved. In addition to his Washington state murders, Bird had apparently killed people in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. He mostly preyed on Caucasian women and dispatched his victims with an axe or hatchet. During his reprieve, Bird lodged an appeal for a retrial with the Washington State Supreme Court, but was denied. His appeals to the federal courts - including three petitions to the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

- were also denied, and he was hanged on the morning of July 15, 1949, at 12:20 a.m., before 125 witnesses. Jake Bird was buried in an unmarked grave in the prison cemetery.

References

External links

Kludt murders

The Bird hex

Reprieve, appeals and execution

See also

References

External links