/vr/ - Retro Games

Montana carried out 56 legal executions between statehood in 1889 and abolition of capital punishment in the state in 1943. These included nine black men, one Latinx, one Chinese, five Native Americans, and thirty-nine whites. All executions were done via hanging and no females were included among them.

The final execution in the Treasure State was that of black spree killer Phillip Coleman. Since black spree and serial killers are comparatively rare, Coleman must stand as a bit unusual. He was a native of East St. Louis, aged about 25 at his death. His parents separated when he was young, his mother remarried, and he quarreled with his stepfather. When he was 9 years old, he ran away from home and ended up in Pittsburgh, where he was arrested for theft. His mother came there to pick him up and bring him home, but he kept arguing and running away. At some point, Coleman claimed, his mother was murdered and her body burned. He said the killer was her white boyfriend, but nothing was done to him because he was white and she was black.

Later on, Coleman went to Washington and married a Crow woman from Montana, fathered two children with her, and later separated. He spent time in jail for a string of burglaries. After release, Coleman worked odd jobs until ending up in Montana. On July 24, 1943, he was hired by Carl Pearson, a foreman for the Northern Pacific Railway and he worked alongside Louis Brown, a mixed white-black ex-con. They went out drinking together after work, whereupon Coleman announced he planned to steal $200 in cash that his boss had laying around. Brown hesitated, so Coleman pulled a knife, gouged his hand with it, and told him to cooperate or else.