Rich Owens (June 19, 1880 – February 26, 1948) was Oklahoma's

executioner An executioner, also known as a hangman or headsman, is an official who effects a sentence of capital punishment on a condemned person. Scope and job The executioner was usually presented with a warrant authorizing or ordering him to ...

from 1918 to 1947 at the

Oklahoma State Penitentiary The Oklahoma State Penitentiary, nicknamed "Big Mac", is a prison of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections located in McAlester, Oklahoma, on . Opened in 1908 with 50 inmates in makeshift facilities, today the prison holds more than 750 male o ...

. He was responsible for 65 executions, and killed 10 others in his lifetime. Owens was also the boss of a prison work crew. He died of

liver cancer Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy, is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary in which the cancer starts in the liver, or it can be liver metastasis, or secondar ...

on February 26, 1948, after falling ill in September 1947.

References

American executioners 1880 births 1948 deaths Place of birth missing {{US-law-enforcement-bio-stub