MysteryTraveler
Forum Veteran
Irene Schroeder (February 17, 1909 – February 23, 1931) was a convicted murderer and became the first woman to be executed in Pennsylvania. Married at 15 to Homer Shrader, she and Homer had a son, Donnie. While working as a waitress in Wheeling WV. Irene met Glenn Dague and began an adulterous and murderous relationship that would end by both of them going to the electric chair.
After leaving her husband for Dague, Irene changed her last name to Schroeder and formed a gang with Dague and older brother, Tom Crawford. The three performed a series of successful robberies, car thefts, and a kidnapping. However, their luck ran out when they were stopped at a police road block. A shootout resulted in deputy Brady Paul being fatally shot. Following a long manhunt, Schroeder and Dague were apprehended in Arizona. Tom Crawford had gone out on his own and was killed in a robbery attempt.
The couple was tried and Dague and Schroeder were each sentenced to die by electrocution. She told her son, "I am going to die, but I am not afraid. Be a good boy and don't be afraid." The boy said his mom would make a beautiful angel.
Early on the morning of February 23, 1931, a stoic Irene was led from her cell to the death chamber, accompanied by Dague's former Sunday School pastor. She turned to the pastor and said, "Please stay with Glenn. He needs you more than I do now."
Wearing a gray dress with a white collar and beige stockings, Schroeder walked to the electric chair and seated herself. The blonde hair had been shaved from the top of her head to facilitate contact with the high voltage electrode. She had no last words and witnesses said she had the hint of a smile on her face. Her executioner, Robert Elliott, said she was the coldest person he had ever executed. In his execution diary, Elliott wrote the following:
"Before sending the lethal current on its journey of death, I glance at the chair to make sure no one is standing too near to it. Then I throw the switch. As I do, I often pray, ‘May God have mercy on your soul.’ The figure in the chair pitches forward, straining against the straps; there is the whining cry of the current and a crackling, sizzling sound. The body turns a vivid red. Sparks often shoot from the electrodes. A wisp of white or dull grey smoke may rise from the top of the head or the leg to which the electrode is attached; this is produced by the sponge lining, singed hair and, sometimes, burning flesh."
When Elliott threw the switch, 2,000 volts surged through the girl's body for two minutes, causing her to strain against the straps that restrained her in the chair. At 7:05 a.m., a doctor checked her for signs of life and declared her dead, only days after her 22nd birthday. Her body was removed and only moments later Dague was brought into the chamber. As he sat in the chair that had just shocked his lover to death, witnesses said the smoke and stench from her electrocution still hung in the air. He died like manner.
Here are some pictures of her.
Here is the electric chair she died in. Notice the large exhaust hood above the chair. An exhaust fan mounted in the top of the hood pulled air from the execution chamber during electrocutions so the smoke from the prisoner's burning body would not nauseate witnesses. It never worked perfectly, but it must have been intimidating to walk to the chair and seeing the apparatus you knew was there to remove the smoke of your burned corpse.
Thanks for reading. Was she cute? Would you have been able to pull the switch and shock her to death? Let me know.
After leaving her husband for Dague, Irene changed her last name to Schroeder and formed a gang with Dague and older brother, Tom Crawford. The three performed a series of successful robberies, car thefts, and a kidnapping. However, their luck ran out when they were stopped at a police road block. A shootout resulted in deputy Brady Paul being fatally shot. Following a long manhunt, Schroeder and Dague were apprehended in Arizona. Tom Crawford had gone out on his own and was killed in a robbery attempt.
The couple was tried and Dague and Schroeder were each sentenced to die by electrocution. She told her son, "I am going to die, but I am not afraid. Be a good boy and don't be afraid." The boy said his mom would make a beautiful angel.
Early on the morning of February 23, 1931, a stoic Irene was led from her cell to the death chamber, accompanied by Dague's former Sunday School pastor. She turned to the pastor and said, "Please stay with Glenn. He needs you more than I do now."
Wearing a gray dress with a white collar and beige stockings, Schroeder walked to the electric chair and seated herself. The blonde hair had been shaved from the top of her head to facilitate contact with the high voltage electrode. She had no last words and witnesses said she had the hint of a smile on her face. Her executioner, Robert Elliott, said she was the coldest person he had ever executed. In his execution diary, Elliott wrote the following:
"Before sending the lethal current on its journey of death, I glance at the chair to make sure no one is standing too near to it. Then I throw the switch. As I do, I often pray, ‘May God have mercy on your soul.’ The figure in the chair pitches forward, straining against the straps; there is the whining cry of the current and a crackling, sizzling sound. The body turns a vivid red. Sparks often shoot from the electrodes. A wisp of white or dull grey smoke may rise from the top of the head or the leg to which the electrode is attached; this is produced by the sponge lining, singed hair and, sometimes, burning flesh."
When Elliott threw the switch, 2,000 volts surged through the girl's body for two minutes, causing her to strain against the straps that restrained her in the chair. At 7:05 a.m., a doctor checked her for signs of life and declared her dead, only days after her 22nd birthday. Her body was removed and only moments later Dague was brought into the chamber. As he sat in the chair that had just shocked his lover to death, witnesses said the smoke and stench from her electrocution still hung in the air. He died like manner.
Here are some pictures of her.
Here is the electric chair she died in. Notice the large exhaust hood above the chair. An exhaust fan mounted in the top of the hood pulled air from the execution chamber during electrocutions so the smoke from the prisoner's burning body would not nauseate witnesses. It never worked perfectly, but it must have been intimidating to walk to the chair and seeing the apparatus you knew was there to remove the smoke of your burned corpse.
Thanks for reading. Was she cute? Would you have been able to pull the switch and shock her to death? Let me know.
