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Barbara GrahamAmerican criminal sentenced to death for murder
Date of Birth: 26.06.1923
Country:  USA |
Content:
Barbara Graham: The Life of a Criminal
Barbara Graham, also known as 'Bloody Babs', was an American criminal who was sentenced to death for murder. She was executed by gas chamber on the same day as her accomplices, Jack Santo and Emmett Perkins. Graham became the third woman in California to be executed by gas. Born Barbara Elaine Wood on June 26, 1923, in Oakland, California, she had a difficult childhood. Her teenage mother was sent to a juvenile correctional facility when Barbara was only 2 years old. She was raised by strangers and foster families, which resulted in her not receiving a proper education.
As a teenager, Graham was arrested for vagrancy and sentenced to Ventura State School for Girls, the same reform school where her mother was located. She was released in 1939, hoping to start her life afresh. Barbara got married and enrolled in a business college. She soon became a mother, but her marriage was not successful, and she divorced her husband in 1941. Over the years, she got married twice more and had another child, but each attempt at living a normal life ended in failure.
It is said that after facing a series of failures, Barbara decided to become a prostitute and worked near military bases during World War II. In 1942, she and some other 'night butterflies' fled to Long Beach and San Diego. Graham was arrested for prostitution in coastal cities and San Pedro.
A Life of Crime and Romance
A beautiful redhead with a seductive appearance, Barbara, in her twenties, worked in a brothel run by Madam Sally Stanford in San Francisco. It is likely that Barbara was involved in drugs and gambling and had friendships with former inmates and professional criminals. She earned a five-year sentence for perjury, testifying against two minor offenders.
After being released from the Tehachapi women's prison, Graham headed to Reno, Nevada, and then to Tonopah. She worked in a hospital and as a waitress, but soon grew tired of it all. Barbara left for Los Angeles, where she rented a room on Hollywood Boulevard and resumed her old ways. In 1953, she married bartender Henry Graham, with whom she had her third child, Tommy.
Henry was an incorrigible criminal and drug addict. Through him, Barbara became acquainted with criminal friends Jack Santo and Emmett Perkins. She began a romantic relationship with Perkins, who revealed to her the existence of a 64-year-old widow named Mabel Monohan, rumored to be keeping a substantial amount of money at her Burbank home. In March 1953, Barbara, along with Jack, Emmett, and two other accomplices, John True and Baxter Shorter, broke into Mabel Monohan's house.
Barbara asked the woman if she could use her telephone, and when Mabel opened the door, the three men attacked her, demanding money and valuables. The elderly woman refused to give them anything. According to Barbara, they hit Monohan on the head with a gun and then suffocated her with a pillow. The gang found nothing valuable in the house and left empty-handed, later discovering that around $15,000, along with jewelry and other valuables, were hidden in a wallet in the closet, right next to where they had killed the old woman.
A Tragic End
Eventually, some members of the gang were arrested, and John True agreed to testify in exchange for immunity from prosecution. In court, True testified against Graham, who insisted on her innocence. She had a chance of being acquitted until Barbara decided to bribe an inmate for $25,000 to provide her with an alibi. Unfortunately for her, this inmate turned out to be in cahoots with an undercover police officer, providing information in exchange for a reduced sentence for manslaughter. During her court appearance, Graham said, "Oh, haven't you ever been desperate? Do you know what it's like not to know what to do?" In the end, Barbara was convicted, and the informant was immediately released from prison.
Graham, Santo, and Perkins were sentenced to death for robbery and murder. On June 3, 1955, Barbara was scheduled to be executed at 10:00 am, but the execution was delayed until 11:30 am. Frustrated, Graham protested, "Why are they torturing me? I was ready to go at ten o'clock." At 11:28 am, Barbara was led out of her cell and into the gas chamber. She requested to have her eyes blindfolded, so she wouldn't see the faces of the witnesses. As her last words, Graham said, "Good people are always sure they are right."
Barbara Graham was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in San Rafael, California. Actress Susan Hayward won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Graham in the 1958 film "I Want to Live!" Some details were altered in the movie, such as how the police discovered and apprehended Graham. The plot also depicted Graham's accomplices, who, believing she had betrayed them, falsely accused her of the murder. A reporter from the Los Angeles Daily Mirror, who covered Barbara's trial, described the film as a "dramatic and eloquent propaganda element for the abolition of the death penalty."
