Friday the 13th is thought by some to be an unlucky day. That was certainly the case for Ernie Walrath. 21, and Troy Powell, 20, when Friday, April 13 1951 rolled around. That was the day the two young men met their end in a double hanging at the Idaho State Penitentiary.
Justice was swift in the murder of Boise Grocer Newton Wilson. He was killed on May 8, 1950 behind his small store at 1401 E State Street, a couple of doors down from the home of Troy Powell. Walrath and Powell were arrested six hours after the murder, and by June 16 had pleaded guilty to bludgeoning and stabbing the man to death in a botched robbery. The next day they were sentenced to hang.
Having little to appeal, attorneys for the pair petitioned the Idaho Supreme Court to commute their sentences on the grounds that the State Pardon Board was illegally constituted and lacked a member who was a psychiatrist. The court didn’t buy the last-minute arguments.
When Powell and Wilson died on that Friday the 13th in 1951, it was the first hanging in Idaho since 1926. It was also the only double hanging ever carried out in the state.
Justice was swift in the murder of Boise Grocer Newton Wilson. He was killed on May 8, 1950 behind his small store at 1401 E State Street, a couple of doors down from the home of Troy Powell. Walrath and Powell were arrested six hours after the murder, and by June 16 had pleaded guilty to bludgeoning and stabbing the man to death in a botched robbery. The next day they were sentenced to hang.
Having little to appeal, attorneys for the pair petitioned the Idaho Supreme Court to commute their sentences on the grounds that the State Pardon Board was illegally constituted and lacked a member who was a psychiatrist. The court didn’t buy the last-minute arguments.
When Powell and Wilson died on that Friday the 13th in 1951, it was the first hanging in Idaho since 1926. It was also the only double hanging ever carried out in the state.
The mugshots of Tony Powell (left) and Ernest Walrath, the only inmates ever executed in a double hanging in Idaho.
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