By 1900, the art of hanging as a form of execution had become very efficient throughout the United States. However, it was not without its errors and mistakes along the way. It was about this time that one Pensacola murderer walked up the stairs for the last time to the executioner’s wooden platform. Wayman King had been convicted of the shooting death of Victoria Watkins on September 16, 1899. He was tried and convicted and sentenced to death by hanging in Pensacola upon the signing of the death warrant by the Governor of the State of Florida. Once the warrant was signed and the date set the sheriff of Escambia County set about preparing King for his execution. As noon approached on March 12, 1900, Sheriff George E. Smith walked the prisoner out of the jail at Jefferson and Main Street and into the enclosed interior courtyard where the platform stood. They walked up the stairs and Sheriff Smith asked him if he had anything to say before the sentence was carried out. A few words were exchanged between the doomed man and his pastor and then the black hood was placed over his head. The sheriff placed the rope around his neck, carefully putting the knot off to the side where it would cause the greatest amount of damage. Upon the springing of the trap door the weight of the prisoner would cause the hangman’s knot to break the victim’s neck rather than strangulating him. Usually, it was a sudden death that came to the condemned man.
When all was ready the doomed man was placed on the trap door with his hands, arms, knees, and ankles bound together. It was the duty of every Florida sheriff to perform the execution of his condemned charges. As the city’s clock struck twelve o’clock Sheriff Smith pulled the lever and King dropped through on his way to whatever destination awaited him. However, for some reason, the prisoner’s neck was not broken in the fall and he continued to dangle and thrash at the end of the rope for some time. He was finally released by the deputies and carried back up to the top of the platform and the rope was placed around his neck for the second time. Adjustments were made, and Sheriff Smith pulled the lever again and Wayman King left this world for the next much quicker than he had come into it. Unfortunately, Sheriff George E. Smith had only a few years left himself before he joined King in 1903 at the age of 50-years old. He was buried in St. John's Cemetery in Pensacola.
Sheriff George E. Smith, 1853-1903
Execution by Hanging in Pensacola Till 1920