Folsom's 93

The Lives and Crimes of Folsom Prison's Executed Men

Tag Archives: Jacob Oppenheimer


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Was Justice Served?

Troy Davis died last night at 11:08 from lethal injection. Strong evidence pointed to another man as the killer of officer Mark MacPhail. There was certainly a tremendous amount of doubt surrounding his conviction and I felt it was tragic that despite this, he was executed. I’m not alone in my opinion; over a million people from across the U.S. and the world supported clemency for Mr. Davis. My heart goes out to both the MacPhail and Davis families, because I think they’re both victims in this case. I don’t know if Davis was innocent, but with such strong doubt of his guilt, capital punishment should not have been considered.

As I’ve mentioned before, I acknowledge the fact that the world has gotten rid of some very heinous individuals, but I can’t help but think about the cost of that; the cost consisting of innocent people. Is the elimination of an S.O.B. worth killing a few wrongly convicted here and there? The Innocence Project has exonerated 273 people, 17 of which served on Death Row. What about those this organization has not been able to save?

In the early 1900s, Jacob Oppenheimer, Folsom’s 28th execution, said in his final speech just before mounting the gallows said,

“Calmly leaving myself of out the question, I want to say that capital punishment is a relic of the barbaric age. It ought not be tolerated. I hope that in every country the time will soon come when it will be abolished . . . I will not be the last to go before this practice is abolished but I will be a martyr to the cause.”

Oppenheimer was just one of many of Folsom’s 93 who called for the abolition of the death penalty. I doubt he ever believed that over a hundred years later, it would still be practiced in 34 states, including California. You can read in an earlier post, about how I talked about whether or not I believed some of Folsom’s condemned men were innocent (yes, I did)!

No matter where you stand on the issue of capital punishment, I think it’s extremely important to know why you feel that way. Before I began this book, I really had no problem with capital punishment, but I also didn’t realize the staggering number of people who have been proven to be wrongfully convicted. I guess I still find myself teetering on this fine line of morality and “justice.”

My hope is that if Davis was indeed innocent, that the real killer is caught and Davis’ name will be cleared. It’s the least the justice system can do.


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The Human Tiger and his underground telegraph

Jacob Oppenheimer, dubbed The Human Tiger, spent a great deal of time in solitary confinement in both Folsom and San Quentin. In fact, of his 18 years behind bars, roughly 16 of them were in solitary. Only during the last few years before his execution at Folsom in 1913, did guards allow him light, and reading and writing materials. During those years, Oppenheimer penned many essays, letters, and even his autobiography. An extraordinary writer, Oppenheimer possessed a vast vocabulary, intelligence and incredible insight into the outside world and the human psyche.

During his dark and lonely days, Oppenheimer developed and perfected a method of communicating with other inmates in the solitary ward, also called the “incorrigible” cells. The method, similar to Morse Code, began with a simple alphabetical diagram Oppenheimer created:

The only time Oppenheimer would speak to the other solitary inmates would be in the prison yard during their thirty minute-a-week exercise where he’d disclose the diagram. The other prisoners then scratched it into a hidden area on the wall of their cell.

Oppenheimer explained to his fellow cons, that a certain amount of taps on the wall represented a certain letter. For example, since “Y” was five over and five down, the inmate would use five taps—twice. “E” the fifth letter, required one tap, then five. At the end of each word or line, the messenger then tapped twice. Over time, other inmates divulged Oppenheimer’s communication system to the new arrivals in the ward, thus saving Oppenheimer the time and trouble.

Oppenheimer’s inventiveness and intelligence far exceeded that of the average convict at Folsom. Despite his dreary solitude, Oppenheimer’s writings exhibited an optimism not common for a condemned incorrigible.  In his letters to his attorney, this “caged tiger” often expressed gratitude and even joy. I’ll leave you with a sentence he wrote, ending a letter written on Christmas Eve 1907,  that seemed to exemplify his usual contentment.

 “The solitude which surrounds me is delightful to a poet for in soothing meditation I soar to heights among the fleecy clouds and into the blue atmosphere. . .”