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TimeLines of Liberty
History - America's Last Words |
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Last Words of Famous Americans and a
few others. |
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Last updated June, 2007.
Ordered by year, No particular order within the year.
In the end we all must die, some will find a beginning as others
would eternally wish an end.
The last words of an individual often reflect the life they
lived. |
|
1770s
- 1800s - 1900s -
2000 |
|
1755-1776 |
Nathan Hale
- Patriot
- American Spy |
"I only regret
that I have but one life to lose for my country." is
attributed to Nathan Hale. "It
is the duty of every good officer to obey any orders given him
by his commander-in-chief," is thought to be his accurate
last words. Hale was arrested, tried, and hanged for spying.
Nathan Hale during the U.S. revolution volunteered to spy on the
British in New York City disguised as a Dutch school teacher. |
|
1788 |
Charles Wesley |
"I shall be
satisfied with Thy likeness -- satisfied." |
1738-
1789 |
Ethan Allen
U. S. Patriot |
"Waiting are they? Waiting are they? Well... Let 'em
wait." said Ethan Allen in reply to his doctor's attempt to comfort him
saying, "General, I fear the angels are waiting for you." |
1706-
1790 |
Benjamin
Franklin
- inventor, journalist, printer, diplomat, statesman & Patriot |
"A dying man can do nothing
easily." said Franklin, in reply to the suggestion of his daughter that he
might breathe easier if he were to lay on his side. |
|
1791 |
Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart |
"You spoke of
a refreshment, Emile; take my last notes, and let me hear once
more my solace and delight." |
|
1791 |
John Wesley |
"The best of all
is, God is with us." |
1732-
1799 |
George Washington
- 1st Constitutional President |
"Tis well."
Washington says after being reassured by his doctor of his
request, "I am just going. Have me decently buried, and do
not let my body be put into the vault in less than three days
after I am dead. Do you understand?" Another account has
him saying "I die hard
but am not afraid to go." |
|
1800s |
|
1757-1804 |
Alexander Hamilton
- founding father |
"This is a mortal
wound, doctor." stated Hamilton having lost a duel with Aaron Burr, Vice
Presidential candidate. |
|
1774-1809 |
Meriwether Lewis
- explorer |
"I am not coward,
but I am so strong. It is hard to die." said Lewis after being shot, shattering his
skull. The mysterious but violent
incident
at a tavern southwest of Nashville, Tennessee
was never investigated. President
Jefferson believed it was suicide, however the Lewis family
thought it to be murder. |
|
1781-1813 |
James Lawrence
- naval commander |
"Tell the men to
fire faster and not to give up the ship; fight her till she
sinks." Mortally wounded Lawrence delivers his last orders as
commander of the frigate Chesapeake during a naval battle in the
War of 1812. |
1779-
1820 |
Stephen Decatur
- Naval Commander |
"I am mortally
wounded, I think" says Decatur, after losing a duel with a disgraced Navy
Captain who he had presided over the captain's court-martial. |
|
1821 |
John Keats |
"Severn --
lift me up -- I am dying -- I shall die easy; don't be
frightened -- be firm, and thank God it has come." |
|
1822 |
Michael Martin
"Captain Lightfoot" |
"Captain Lightfoot"
was granted permission to signal his own execution. "When
shall I drop the handkerchief?" to which came the reply,
"Whenever you are ready." |
|
1743-1826 |
Thomas Jefferson
3rd President |
"This is the
Fourth? " Jefferson asked, and was consoled that it was, "I
resign my spirit to God, my daughter to my country."
Jefferson died the next day on the forth of July,1826 just past
noon. |
1735-
1826 |
John Adams
2nd President |
"Thomas Jefferson still surv...[ives]," stated John
Adams as he dies, not knowing that Jefferson on the same day,
July 4th 1826, preceded him in death. Earlier in the day Adams
replying to an inquiry as to what day it is, said "Oh, yes, it
is the glorious fourth of July. God bless it. God bless you
all." |
?-
1828 |
George Appel
- death row |
"Well, gentlemen, you are
about to see a baked Appel" George Appel was executed in
electric chair in New York. |
1758-
1831 |
James Monroe
- 5th President |
"I regret that I should
leave this world without again beholding him." says Monroe
in regard for James Madison. |
1800-
1831 |
Nat Turner
- slave rebel |
"It's in God's hands now."
Turner says before he was hanged. |
1751-
1836 |
James Madison
- 4th President |
"Nothing more than a change
of mind, my dear. I always talk better lying down."
replied Madison after
being asked by his neice, "What is the matter, Uncle James?" |
1786-
1836 |
David
Crockett
"Davy Crockett"
- woodsman, politician |
"I'm warning you
boys, I'm a screamer." Crockett informs his captors, prior to his execution after the
Battle of the Alamo. |
1773-
1841 |
William Henry Harrison
- 9th President |
"Sir, I wish you to
understand the true principles of government. I wish them
carried out. I ask nothing more." Harrison, delirious, says
to Vice President John Tyler. |
|
1845 |
Andrew Jackson
- 7th President |
"I hope to meet you all in
Heaven. Be good children, all of you, and strive to be ready
when the change comes." Another variation of the same has
been credited to Jackson as well, perhaps one is earlier in the
conversation. "Oh, do not cry - be good children and we will
all meet in heaven." |
1767-
1848 |
John Quincy Adams
-
6th President |
"This is the last of earth! I am content."
John Quincy Adams collapsed during session of the U.S. House of
Representatives. He was carried into the Speaker's Room dying
two days later. During that last illness he also said, "I
inhabit a weak, frail, decayed tenement; battered by the winds
and broken in on by the storms, and, from all I can learn, the
landlord does not intend to repair." |
1795-
1849 |
James K. Polk
- 11th President |
"I love you Sarah. For all
eternity, I love you." Polk says to his wife after making
her aware of the provision he made for her care. |
1809-
1849 |
Edgar
Allan Poe
- author |
"Lord help my poor
soul." Poe said from his deathbed when asked, "Would you like to see
your friends?" |
1784-
1850 |
Zachary Taylor
- 12th President |
"I am about to die. I
expect the summons very soon. I have tried to discharge all my
duties faithfully. I regret nothing, but I am sorry that I am
about to leave my friends." Another variation
contributed to President Taylor is, "I have tried to do my
duty, and am not afraid to die. I am ready." |
|
1850 |
William Wordsworth |
"God bless you! Is
that you, Dora?" |
1782-
1850 |
John C. Calhoun
- Southern politician |
"The South! The poor South! God knows what will
become of her." |
1782-
1852 |
Daniel Webster
- U.S. Statesman |
"I still live."
Another has Webster's last words as, "Life, life! Death,
Death! How curious it is!" |
1782-
1862 |
Martin Van Buren
- 8th President |
"There is but one
reliance..." |
1790-
1862 |
John Tyler
- 10th President |
"Perhaps it is best."
Tyler says in reply to his doctor's reply of "I hope not sir."
after his stating, "Doctor, I am going."
Tyler died in office of the Confederate Provisional Congress on
January 18, 1862 in Richmond, Virginia. |
-
1862 |
David Henry
Thoreau
"Henry David Thoreau"
- writer, philosopher |
"I did not know that we had
ever quarreled." replied Thoreau to being urged to make
peace with God. Another account has "Moose . . . Indian
. . ." as his last words. Still another has "I leave
this world without regret." |
|
1824-1863 |
Thomas
Jonathan Jackson "Stonewall Jackson"
- Confederate General |
"Order A.P. Hill
to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the front rapidly!
Tell Major Hawks. . . . Let us cross over the river and sit
under the shade of the trees." Stonewall Jackson was killed
in error, "friendly fire," during the Civil War, at the battle
of Chancellorsville. |
1809-
1865 |
Abraham Lincoln
- 16th President |
"It
doesn't really matter." was Lincoln's
response to his wife's admonition not to hold hands at Ford's
Theater, "people might see them."
One account has him saying
"They won't think anything about it."
Laughter was last heard from President Lincoln in Ford's
Theater at an ad-libbed line, "You are mistaken, Miss Mary, the
draft has already been stopped by order of the President!" It
was at this line he was laughing as he was shot by John Wilkes
Booth. |
?-
1865 |
Edmund Ruffin
- Confederate activist |
". . . And
now with my latest writing and utterance, and with what will be
near my latest breath, I here repeat and would willingly
proclaim my unmitigated hatred to Yankee rule--to all political,
social and business connections with Yankees, and the
perfidious, malignant and vile Yankee race."
Ruffin wrote in a suicide note as the last entry in his diary. |
1823-
1865 |
Mary
Surratt
- death row |
"Please don't let
me fall." asked Mary prior to being hanged as the first woman executed
by the U.S. Government. She was executed for her participation as a conspirator in
the Lincoln assassination. |
1839-
1865 |
John Wilkes Booth
- assassin |
"Tell mother, tell
mother, I died for my country... unless... unless..."
mumbled Booth after being dragged from the flames of a burning
barn during the man-hunt after John Wilkes Booth shot
President Lincoln at the Ford Theater. Booth
had asked a message be sent to his mother and then asked to see
his hands which bore an engagement ring. More recently it is
believed that his last two word were actually, "Lucy...
Lucy..." the name of his lover, Lucy Hale, daughter of
Senator John P. Hale. |
|
?-1865 |
Henry
Wirz
- death row
- Confederate officer |
"This is too
tight." Wirz complains at the gallows, convicted of
ordering or personally committing acts of assault or murder at
the Andersonville Civil War prison camp. |
1833-
1866 |
William J. Fetterman
- 18th U.S. Infantry |
"Give me 80 men
and I'll ride through the whole Sioux nation." boasts
Fetterman insisting on the mission based on rank. Fetterman and
80 troops were later found stripped and mutilated. |
1791-
1868 |
James Buchanan
- 15th President |
"Whatever the result may be, I shall carry to my
grave the consciousness that at least I meant well for my
country. Oh Lord God Almighty, as thou
wilt." |
1804-
1869 |
Franklin Pierce
- 14th President |
(unknown last words)
|
|
1807-1870 |
Robert E. Lee
- Confederate General |
"Strike the tent." |
|
1872 |
Horace Greeley |
"It is done." |
1800-
1874 |
Millard Fillmore
- 13th President |
"The nourishment is
palatable." Millard Fillmore in response to the inquiry about the food, as
his physician helps with a spoonful of soup. |
1808-
1875 |
Andrew Johnson
- 17th President |
"I need no doctor. I can overcome my
troubles." are Johnson's last words to his daughter as he
struggled to move. He had fallen from a chair and said, "My
right side is paralyzed." |
1839-
1876 |
George
Armstrong Custer
- U.S. General |
"Hurrah Boys!
Let's get these last few reds then head on back to camp.
Hurrah!" (attributed) Of course, this would have been prior
to Custer's defeat at Little Big Horn. His actual last words were
likely to have been orders, or an underestimated observation of the Indian strength. |
|
1877 |
William P. Longley |
"I deserve
this fate. it is a debt I owe for a wild and reckless life. so
long, everybody!" |
1851-
1878 |
Sam Bass
- Texas Outlaw |
"Let me go - The world is bobbing around me."
Is attributed to Sam Bass, however two other quotes are
attributed to him as well: "The room is jumping up and down"
and "The world is a bubble - trouble wherever you go" |
|
1881 |
|
1831-1881 |
James A. Garfield
20th President |
"Oh Swaim, there is a pain here. Swaim, can't
you stop this? Oh, oh, Swaim!" begs
Garfield of his chief of staff, David G. Swaim.
His doctor attempted but could not find the bullet fired by
Charles Guiteau. |
1859-
1881 |
Henry McCarty
"William Bonney"
"Billy the Kid"
- gunslinger |
"Who is it?"
asks McCarty, while in a dark room. Sheriff Pat
Garrett recognized his voice and, with a single shot to the
heart, killed Billy the Kid. |
1809-
1882 |
Charles
Darwin
- evolutionist. |
"I am not the
least afraid to die." According to his family Darwin stood
firm on his theories of evolution through to his dying day. |
|
1841-1882 |
Charles Guiteau
- assassin |
"Glory
hallelujah! I am with the Lord, Glory, ready, go!" Guiteau
was hanged on June 30, 1882 for the assassination of
President James Garfield. |
|
1885 |
1822-
1885 |
Ulysses
Simpson Grant
- Union General
- 18th President |
"Water."
Another account has him saying, "I want nobody distressed on
my account." |
1821-
1885 |
William H.
Vanderbilt
- Millionaire |
"I have had no
real gratification or enjoyment of any sort more than my
neighbor on the next block who is worth only half a million."
Vanderbilt
dying with a net worth of 200 million dollars. |
1829-
1886 |
Chester Alan Arthur
- 21st President |
Last words unknown
- The man's words for the future : |
1830-
1886 |
Emily Dickinson
- poet, author |
"I must go in, the
fog is rising" Emily Dickinson possibly recalling her poem
"I've seen a dying eye." |
1813-
1887 |
Henry Ward Beecher
-abolitionist, clergyman |
"Now comes the mystery." |
1851-
1887 |
Doc.
Holliday
- gun fighter, Earp deputy |
"This is funny,"
exclaimed Doc Holliday, looking down at his bootless feet.
During his life he had thought he would die from lead poisoning
(gun fight), the end of a rope, knife in his ribs, or drink
himself to death, however "with his boots on." |
1855-
1887 |
August Vincent Theodore Spies
- anarchist, labor activist |
"There will be a time when
our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle
today!" |
1832-
1888 |
Louisa
May Alcott
- Novelist |
"Is it not
meningitis?" |
|
1889 |
Jefferson Davis |
"Saying" |
1831-
1890 |
Sitting Bull
- Indian Leader |
"I am not going.
Do with me what you like. I am not going. Come on! Come on!
Take action! Let's go!" said Sitting Bull as a skirmish broke out among a
crowd of supporters and the police. Sitting Bull was shot
accidentally in the side by Lieutenant Henry Bull Head
discharging a round as he fell, who had
just been shot by Catch the Bear. |
1810-
1891 |
Phineas Taylor Barnum
"P. T. Barnum"
- Barnum and Bailey |
"How were the circus receipts in Madison Square
Gardens?" |
|
1892 |
Walt Whitman |
"Garrulous to the
very last." |
1821-
1893 |
Rutherford
Birchard Hayes
"Rutherford B. Hayes"
- 19th President |
"I know that I am going
where Lucy is." referring to his wife who had preceded him
in death. |
|
1893 |
Robert Louis Stevenson |
"My head! My
head!" |
1876-
1896 |
Crawford Goldsby
"Cherokee Bill" |
"No! I didn't come here to
make a speech. I came here to die." answered Goldsby when asked if
he
wished to say something prior to his being hanged. Earlier when
stepping into the court yard and seeing the gallows he said,
"This is as good a day to die as any." |
|
1900s |
1854-
1900 |
Oscar Wilde
- Irish writer |
"Either that wallpaper
goes, or I do." |
1833-
1901 |
Benjamin Harrison
- 23rd President |
"Are the doctors here?
Doctor...my lungs." |
1843-
1901 |
William B. McKinley
- 25th President |
"Good-bye --
good-bye, all. We are all going. It's God's way. His will be
done, not ours. Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee. We are
all going, we are all going, we are all going. Oh, dear."
McKinley said having suffered days of pain after being shot by anarchist
Leon Czolgosz. |
1873-
1901 |
Leon
Czolgosz
- death row
- anarchist |
"I killed the
President because he was the enemy of the good people, the good
working people. I am not sorry for my crime." Convicted, of
the assassination of President William McKinley,
Czolqosz was executed in 1901. |
1863-
1901 |
"Black Jack"
Ketchum
- death row
- notorious train robber |
"I'll be in Hell before you
start breakfast!" said Ketchum as he then stepped up his pace to the gallows.
The rope was too long and his head was wrenched off. |
1837-
1908 |
Stephen Grover Cleveland
"Grover Cleveland"
22nd & 24th President |
"I have tried so hard to do right." |
1861-
1909 |
Frederic
Remington
- Artist |
"Cut 'er loose,
Doc!" Remington said, prior to an appendectomy in which complications killed
him. Frederic Remington was an artist of the American West. |
|
1862-1910 |
William Sidney
Porter
"O. Henry"
- writer |
"Don't turn down
the light. I'm afraid to go home in the dark." O. Henry
quoting a popular song. A famous American writer, he
wrote, "The Gift of the Magi."
Another account has him saying "Turn up the lights— I don't
want to go home in the dark." |
|
1910 |
Leo Tolstoy |
"But the
peasants- how do the peasants die?" |
1864-
1912 |
John
Jacob Astor, IV
- richest man in the world |
"The ladies
have to go first. . . . Get in the lifeboat, to please me. . .
. Good-bye, dearie. I'll see you later."
said Astor, bidding farewell to his much younger but pregnant
wife, Madeline, as the Titanic takes on water. |
|
1860-1915 |
Charles Frohman
- theatrical manager |
"Why fear death?
Death is only a beautiful adventure." encouraging passengers
of the British passenger ship, Lusitania that was sank by a
German submarine in 1915. |
1879-
1915 |
Joe
Hill
- Labor Activist |
"Don't mourn for me!
Organize!" Hill shouted at supporters while being led to to the
firing squad for his execution. He was convicted in a
controversial trial, for murder. |
|
1917 |
Buffalo Bill Cody |
"Let's forget
about it and play high five." "I wish Johnny would come." |
1856-
1917 |
Lyman
Frank Baum
- Author |
"Now I can cross
the Shifting Sands." L. Frank Baum wrote "The Wizard of Oz." |
1858-
1919 |
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
- 26th President |
"Please put out the light." |
1853-
1921 |
Bat Masterson
- U. S. Marshal
|
We all get the same amount
of ice. The rich get it in the summer. The poor get it in the
winter. |
1847-
1922 |
Alexander Graham Bell
- inventor |
"No," signed
Bell, in reply to his wife signing, "Don't
leave me." Another quote contributed to him is "So
little done, so much to do." |
1865-
1923 |
Warren Gamaliel Harding
"Warren G. Harding"
- 29th President |
"That's good. Go on, read
some more." Harding requesting his wife continue reading flattering
newspaper articles about him. |
1856-
1924 |
Woodrow Wilson
- 28th President |
"I am a
broken piece of machinery. When the machine is broken... I am ready."
stated Wilson, speaking to his wife,
Edith. |
1895-
1926 |
Rudolph
Valentino |
"Don't worry chief, it will
be alright." |
1874-
1926 |
Harry Houdini
"The Great Houdini"
- magician |
"I'm tired of fighting."
Houdini says after an intestinal rupture that proves fatal
caused by a young man who sucker-punches him in the stomach.
Houdini would tighten the muscles in his stomach and invite
strong men to punch him in the stomach, as one of his tricks, he
would withstand the blow. The fatal punch occurred when asked if
he could withstand such a blow, Houdini replied yes and was
immediately punched before bracing himself, by tightening his
stomach muscles. Another account has him concluding with, "I
guess this thing is going to get me." |
1849-
1926 |
Luther Burbank
- horticulturist |
"I don't feel
good." |
1857-
1926 |
William Henry
Johnson
"Zip the Pinhead"
- freak show performer |
"Well, we fooled 'em for a
long time, didn't we?" Zip the Pinhead was presented as a
microcephalic (pin-head) although he was not. He did not have
the mental retardation as do the real microcephalics. |
1878-
1927 |
Angela
Duncan
"Isadora"
- Actress |
"Farewell, my
friends. I go to glory." Duncan says after her scarf was caught on a
vehicle that dragged her, breaking her neck. |
1882-
1928 |
Arnold Rothstein
- death row
-Kingpin, organized crime |
"Don’t go away. I don’t
want to be alone. I can’t stand being alone." |
1892-
1929 |
Frank Gusenberg
"Tight Lips"
- mobster |
"Nobody shot me."
Tight Lips
replied to a police officer asking, "Who shot you?" after the
St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Six men died immediately, Frank,
the seventh, survived for 3 hours with 14 rounds in his body. |
|
1930 |
1857-
1930 |
William Howard Taft
- 27th President |
Last words unknown
- The man's words for the future :
"Having thus reviewed the questions likely to recur during my
administration, and having expressed in a summary way the
position which I expect to take in recommendations to Congress
and in my conduct as an Executive, I invoke the considerate
sympathy and support of my fellow-citizens and the aid of the
Almighty God in the discharge of my responsible duties." -
President William Taft
Inaugural Address, March 4, 1909 |
1891-
1930 |
Carl Panzram
- death row
- serial killer |
"Hurry up, you Hoosier
bastard, I could kill ten men while you're fooling around!"
Panzram says to the executioner during the placement of the noose at Leavenworth by order of
the State of Kansas. |
1847-
1931 |
Thomas Alva. Edison
- inventor |
"It's very
beautiful over there." as Edison turns to a window to speak
his last words Suffering from pneumonia Edison replied "No, just
waiting," to his wife Mina's leaning close asking "Are you
Suffering?" Then came the last words. Edison invented the
electric light bulb. |
1852-
1931 |
Antonio Mancini
- death row
- mobster |
"Cheerio!" says
ganster Antonio Mancini after the noose was placed around his
neck. |
1879-
1931 |
Nicholas Vachel
Lindsay
- Poet |
"They tried to get me - I
got them first!" Lindsay committed suicide by drinking
Lysol. |
1911-
1931 |
Francis Crowley
"Two Gun" |
"You sons of bitches. Give
my love to Mother." |
1889-
1932 |
Hart
Crane
- Poet |
"Good-bye,
everybody." is Crane's bid of farewell prior to jumping overboard,
returning from a Guggenheim fellowship in Mexico. |
1854-
1932 |
George
Eastman
- inventor |
"My work is done,
why wait?" Eastman wrote in a note along with putting his affairs
in order. Eastman at age 77 with a painful spinal disease
committed suicide. He was inventor of the mass-produced
photographic plate then later the flexible film. |
1969-
1932 |
Florenz Ziegfeld
- Broadway Producer |
"Curtain! Fast
music! Lights! Ready for the last finale! Great! The show
looks good. The show looks good." Ziegfield said, hallucinating, about one
last show, perhaps. |
1872-
1933 |
John Calvin Coolidge Jr.
"Calvin Coolidge"
- 30th President |
"Good morning, Robert."
Coolidge said to a contractor that was working on his home. |
-
1933 |
Sara Teasdale
- Poet |
"When I am dead, and over
me bright April
Shakes out her rain drenched hair,
Tho you should lean above me broken hearted,
I shall not care.
For I shall have peace.
As leafey trees are peaceful
When rain bends down the bough.
And I shall be more silent and cold hearted
Than you are now. "
From the suicide note Sara Teasdale wrote to the lover who left
her. |
1900-
1933 |
Giuseppe Zangara
- death row
- would be assassin |
"You give me electric
chair. I no afraid of that chair! You one of capitalists. You is
crook man too. Put me in electric chair. I no care! Get to hell
out of here, you son of a bitch [spoken to the attending
minister]... I go sit down all by myself... Viva Italia! Goodbye
to all poor peoples everywhere!... Lousy capitalists! No
picture! Capitalists! No one here to take my picture. All
capitalists lousy bunch of crooks. Go ahead. Pusha da button!"
Giuseppe Zangara attempted to assassinate President-elect
Franklin D. Rooselvelt, mortally wounding Anton Cermak, the
mayor of Chicago. Another account has him saying, "Adios, to
the world!" |
1893-
1935 |
Huey P. Long
"The Kingfish"
- Louisiana politician |
"Don't let me die, I have
got so much to do." |
-
1935 |
Charlotte
Perkins Gilman
- writer |
"When all usefulness is
over, when one is assured of an unavoidable and imminent death,
it is the simplest of human rights to choose a quick and easy
death in place of a slow and horrible one." Gilman's Suicide
note; she chose an overdose of Chloroform over her condition
of cancer. |
-
1936 |
Robert E. Howard
- writer |
"All fled--all done, so
lift me on the pyre; The feast is over, and the lamps expire."
Suicide note of Robert E Howard, 1936. |
1897-
1937 |
Amelia
Earhart
- woman pilot |
"KHAQQ calling
Itasca. We must be on you, but cannot see you. Gas is running
low." is the last call received from Amelia Earhart prior to
the plane's "mysterious" disapperance. In her last letter to her
husband before the flight she wrote, "Please know that I am
quite aware of the hazards. Women must try to do things as men
have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a
challenge to others." |
|
1856-1939 |
Sigmund Freud
- founder of psychoanalysis |
"My dear Schur,
you remember our first talk. You promised to help me when I
could no longer carry on. It is only torture now, and it has no
longer any sense." A heavy smoker, after all treatments for
cancer had failed Freud commented, "It is tragic when a man
outlives his body." Appealing to his personal physician for
relief. He slipped into a coma and died the next day. |
-
1939 |
Douglas
Fairbanks, Sr.
- actor |
"I've never felt better." |
1882-
1941 |
Virginia Woolf
- British novelist |
"I feel certain that I'm
going mad again. I feel we can't go thru another of those
terrible times. And I shan't recover this time. I begin to hear
voices" Virginia Woolf's suicide note. |
1882-
1942 |
John
Barrymore (Blyth)
"Jack or Jake"
- actor |
"You heard me,
Mike." said Barrymore in reply to his brother asking "What did you say,
Jake?" having missed the words, Barrymore had just murmured. |
|
1943 |
George Washington Carver |
"I think I'll
sleep now." |
1908-
1944 |
Lupe Vélez
- actress, commedian |
"To Harald, may God forgive
you and forgive me too but I prefer to take my life away and our
baby's before I bring him with shame or killing him, Lupe."
Lupe writes in a suicide note after a failed romance with Harald
Maresch. |
1882-
1945 |
Franklin D. Roosevelt
"FDR"
- 32nd president |
"Be Careful" Roosevelt is
heard by Laura Delano as he is carried to his bed. Prior
to that during the painting of his picture Roosevelt places his
hand to the back of his head and says, "I have
a terrific pain in the back of my head."
Roosevelt had a cerebral hemorrhage. Lucy Page Mercer
Rutherford, was escorted away before his wife, Eleanor arrived. |
|
1880-1946 |
W.C. Fields
- vaudeville comedian |
"God damn the
whole friggin' world and everyone in it but you, Carlotta."
said W.C. Fields,
on Christmas morning of 1946 in excruciating pain of a massive
untreatable stomach hemorrhage. WC Fields was a heavy drinker
consuming up to two quarts of martinis each day. |
1866-
1946 |
Herbert George Wells
"H. G. Wells"
- writer |
"Go away. I'm all
right." |
1874-
1946 |
Gertrude Stein
- writer, poet |
"In that case, what is the
question?" asked Stein, after getting no response from Alice B. Toklas
when Gertrude asked, "What is the answer?" |
|
1892-1949 |
James Forrestal
- Sec. of the Navy |
"Frenzy hath
seized thy dearest son,
Who from thy shores in glory came
The first in valor and in fame;
Thy deeds that he hath done
Seem hostile all to hostile eyes. . . .
Better to die, and sleep
The never waking sleep, than linger on,
And dare to live, when the soul's life is gone."
Quoting a poem from the Chorus from Ajax by Sophocles,
that turned out to be Forrestal's suicide note. |
1895-
1949 |
George
Herman Ruth
"Babe Ruth" |
"I'm going over
the valley." informed Ruth, while wandering around his hospital bed in
response to a doctor asking where he was going. He then got back
into bed, lapsed into a coma and within the hour died. |
1856-
1950 |
George Bernard
Shaw
- playwright |
"Sister, you're trying to
keep me alive as an old curiosity, but I'm done, I'm finished,
I'm going to die." Shaw says to his nurse. |
-
1951 |
Martha
Beck
- murderess |
"My story is a love story, but only those who are tortured by
love can understand what I mean. I was pictured as a fat,
unfeeling woman. True, I am fat, but if that is a crime, how
many of my sex are guilty. I am not unfeeling, stupid or
moronic. My last words and my last thoughts are: Let him who is
without sin cast the first stone." says Martha Beck before
her execution. |
1914-
1953 |
Dylan Thomas
- poet |
"I've had eighteen straight whiskies, I
think that's the record . . ." Thomas says, while in New York City after a long
drinking bout. |
1931-
1955 |
James
Dean
- Actor |
"That guy's got to stop. . . .
He'll see us." said Dean, prior to slamming into a car pulling out
ahead of his speeding Porsche. Dean was killed instantly by
decapitation. "My fun days are over." said James Dean
before embarking on the fatal drive. |
-
1955 |
Barbara Graham
- Death Row |
"Good people are always so sure they're
right" states Graham before her execution at San Quentin
Penitentiary . |
-
1956 |
Alben W. Barkley
- Vice President |
"I would rather be a servant in
the House of the Lord than to sit in the seats of the mighty."
says Barkley after a heart attack as a U.S. Senator speaking at
Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia on April
30, 1956. |
1899-
1957 |
Humphrey Bogart
- actor |
"Hurry back", Bogart said to Lauren Bacall, his wife, as
she closed the door. She had
left the house briefly and returned to find he had died.
Also acredited to him is, "I should never have switched
from Scotch to Martinis." |
1889-
1957 |
James Whale
"Henry Wales"
- film director |
"The future is just old age and illness
and pain.... I must have peace and this is the only way."
James Whale's suicide note of May 29, 1957. |
1882-
1957 |
Louis Burt Mayer
"Eliezer Meir"
"of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer"
- film Producer |
"Nothing matters. Nothing matters." |
1879-
1959 |
Ethel Barrymore
"Ethel Blyth"
- Actress |
"Are you happy? I'm happy."
Said Ethel Barrymore
taking her maid, Anna Albert's, hands then fell asleep until her
death several hours later. |
-
1959 |
Lou Costello
- comedian |
"That was the best ice-cream soda I ever
tasted." |
-
1959 |
Errol Flynn
- actor |
"I've had a hell of a lot of fun and I've
enjoyed every minute of it." |
1888-
1959 |
Eugene O'Neill
- playwright |
"I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel
room - and God damn it - died in a hotel room." |
1909-
1959 |
Max Baer
- boxer |
"Oh God, here I go..." Max
Baer was the Heavyweight Champion in 1934 & '35 |
1875-
1959 |
Edmund Gwenn
- British actor |
"Yes, it's tough, but not as tough as
doing comedy." replied Gwenn when he was asked if dying was
tough.
|
1894-
1961 |
James Thurber
- humorist |
"God bless... God damn."
Thurber died of a blood clot on the brain in New York in
November, 1961. |
|
1917-1963 |
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
"JFK"
"John F. Kennedy"
- 35th President |
"That's obvious," Kennedy
replies to the wife of the Governor of Texas who had just said,
"Mr. President, you can't say that Dallas doesn't love you," as
the first bullet is fired by Lee Harvey Oswald. A secret Service
agent says that Kennedy made no remarks after being shot. |
1874-
1964 |
Herbert Clark Hoover
"Herbert Hoover"
- 31st President |
"Levi Strauss was one of my best friends."
replied Hoover after being
told that Admiral Strauss had come to pay a visit. Hoover
had began speaking in the past tense. |
1813-
1964 |
John Sedgwick
"Uncle John"
- Union General |
"They couldn't hit an elephant at
this dist--." said Sedgwick, interrupted by a bullet to
his head, delivered by a confederate sharpshooter. His men had been urging him to take cover. Scoffing
he said "What! What men! This will never do, dodging from single
bullets!" |
1931-
1964 |
Sam
Cooke
- Songwriter Gospel,R&B,Soul,pop |
"Lady, you shot me!"
exclaimed Cooke in his
hotel room. |
|
1890-1965 |
Stan Laurel
- comedian, actor
- Laural & Hardy |
"I wish I was skiing."
Said Laural and his nurse asked if he skied to which he replied
"No, but I'd rather be skiing than doing what I'm doing."
Stan Laurel then died of a heart attack. |
1925-
1965 |
Malcolm
Little
"El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz"
"Malcolm X"
- black nationalist |
"Brothers! Brothers,
please! This is a house of peace!" Malcolm exclaims
addressing two men who were staging a fight as a distraction for the
two armed assassins drawing their guns. It is reported that
before Malcolm hit the floor, he was dead. |
-
1966 |
James French
- death row
- murderer |
"Hey, fellas! How about
this for a headline for tomorrow's paper? 'French Fries'!"
French punctuated to the press, at his execution in the electric chair
in Oklahoma. James French had been convicted for murder. |
1929-
1968 |
Martin Luther
King Jr.
- Civil Rights activist |
"Be sure to sing "Blessed
Lord" tonight — and sing it well." |
1902-
1968 |
Tallulah
Bankhead
- actress |
"Codeine . . . bourbon"
Tallulah Bankhead suffered from double pneumonia that had
developed from the flu, which was complicated by emphysema. She
died in New York City at age of 66. |
|
1890-1969 |
Dwight D. Eisenhower
- 34th President |
"I've always loved
my wife, my children, and my grandchildren, and I've always
loved my country. I want to go. I'm ready to go. God, take me." |
1884-
1972 |
Harry S. Truman
- 33rd President |
Last words unknown
- The man's words for the future :
"Men make history and not the other way
around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands
still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize
the opportunity to change things for the better." -
Harry S. Truman |
1908-
1973 |
Lyndon Baines Johnson
"LBJ"
- 36th President |
"Send Mike immediately!"
Johnson calls over an intercom telephone to a Secret Service agent. |
1944-
1974 |
Christine Chubbuck
- TV News Anchor |
"In keeping with
Channel 40's policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts
and in living color, you are going to see another first --
attempted suicide." as Christine Chubbuck pulls out a
revolver and fires a round into her head. Technicians were able
to cut the video feed in time but the shot was clearly heard. |
1912-
1975 |
Ernest Michael
McSorley
- Captain, Edmund Fitzgerald |
"We are holding our own."
states Captain McSorley moments before the freighter
Edmund Fitzgerald is broken in-two by a wave trough. The giant
swell causes the ship to strike the bottom of Lake Superior over
500 feet below the surface level. All 29 men were killed. |
1951-
1975 |
Richard Strange
- Musician, actor |
I'll tell you something I'd
love to own Tesco, and you wanna know why?... What you don't,
but its a really good anecdote! I swear! Fine, you can reimburse
me for the Pepsi! stated Strange after eating grapes given
to him by orphans. |
1904-
1977 |
Harold Lillis Crosby
"Bing Crosby"
- singer, actor |
"It was a great game."
was Crosby's reply to the applause by spectators during a game of golf at
La Moraleja golf course in Spain. He collapsed and was carried
to the clubhouse by three of his golfing partners. One report
says he stated, "That was a
great game of golf, fellers." |
1889-
1977 |
Charles
Chaplin
"Charlie Chaplin"
- comedian, actor |
"Why not? After
all, it belongs to him." said Charlie quipping a reply to the attending
priest saying "May the Lord have mercy on your soul." |
1890-
1977 |
Julius Henry
Marx
"Groucho Marx"
- comedian, actor |
"Die, my dear? Why that's
the last thing I'll do!" |
1905-
1977 |
Joan Crawford
- actress |
"Dammit…Don't you
dare ask God to help me." Joan Crawford's housekeeper had
began to pray out loud. |
1954-
1977 |
Freddie Prinze
- comedian, actor |
"I must end it. There's no
hope left. I'll be at peace. No one had anything to do with
this. My decision totally." - "I love you, Kathy. I love the
baby, but I need to find peace. I can't go on." Prinze
writes in his suicide note. |
-
1977 |
Gary Gilmore
- death row |
"Let's do it!" Gary
Gilmore is executed in Utah by firing squad. |
|
1978 |
Terry Kath
- rock musician |
"Don't worry, it's not
loaded." says Kath playing Russian roulette. |
|
1979 |
John Spenkelink
- death row |
"Capital punishment: them
without the capital get the punishment." Spenkelink was
executed by electrocution in the Florida electric chair. |
1949-
1980 |
David A.
Johnston
- volcanologist |
"Vancouver! Vancouver! This
is it! This is..." exclaimed Johnston, transmitting the first report of the 1980
volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens. He was lost in the
lateral blast that resulted from the collapse of the North Face. |
1940-
1980 |
John Lennon
- musician
- Beatles |
"I'm shot, I'm shot."
Lennon exclaimed, after he was fired upon by Mark David Chapman in front of the New York
apartment building where Lennon lived. Some say that when being
loaded into the back of a police car and when asked if he was
John Lennon, he replied, "Yeah." |
-
1981 |
Steven Judy
- death row |
"I don't hold any grudges.
This is my doing. Sorry it happened." Steven Judy was
executed by Indiana in the electric chair. |
-
1983 |
John Eldon Smith |
"Well, the Lord is going to
get another one." John Eldon Smith was executed by the State of
Georgia in the electric Chair. |
-
1984 |
Jon Erik Hexum
- actor |
"Lets see if this will do
it." actor Jon Hexum recited, during a shooting of the TV spy show "Cover Up" actor
Jon Erik Hexum then put a pistol, loaded with blanks, to his
head and fired. The concussion forced a part of his skull into
his brain killing him six days later. |
-
1986 |
George Engel
- Chicago bomber
- anarchist |
"Hurrah for anarchy! This
is the happiest moment of my life." cheered George
Engel as his last words on the gallows as one of four executed for the 1886
Haymarket, Chicago bombing. |
-
1987 |
Jimmy Glass
- death row |
"I'd rather be fishing."
says Glass prior to his execution in Louisiana's electric chair. |
1918-
1988 |
Richard Feynman
- quantum physicist |
"I'd hate to die twice.
It's so boring." |
|
1989 |
Laurence Olivier
- English Actor |
"This isn't Hamlet,
you know. It's not meant to go into the bloody ear."
complained Olivier, when a
distracted nurse dabs his ear intending to moisten his lips. |
1946-
1989 |
Ted Bundy
- Serial Killer |
"I'd like you to give my love to my family and friends." Ted
Bundy prior to his execution in Florida on January 24, 1989.
Bundy was the "mysterious Ted" in Washington State. |
-
1989 |
Sean Flannagan
- death row |
"I love you." Sean
Flannagan says to the executioner. He was executed by lethal
injection in New York. |
-
1991 |
G. W. Green
- death row |
"Lock and load. Let's do
it." Green was executed by lethal injection by the State of
Texas. |
-
1992 |
Johnny Frank
Garrett, Sr.
- death row |
"I'd like to thank my
family for loving me and taking care of me. And the rest of the
world can kiss my a__." As Garrett is executed by lethal
injection in Texas. |
|
1992 |
Robert Alton
Harris
- death row |
"You can be a king or a
street sweeper, but everyone dances with the Grim Reaper."
Harris stated philosophizing prior to his execution in
California's gas chamber. |
1961-
1993 |
Westley
Allan Dodd
- serial killer, sex
offender
- death row |
"I was once asked by somebody, I don't remember who, if there
was any way sex offenders could be stopped. I said no. I was
wrong." Westley Allen Dodd, executed in Washington on
Jan. 5, 1993. Dodd had expressed the only way to have stopped
him was his capture and his death. |
-
1993 |
James Allen
"Red Dog"
- death row |
"I'm going home, babe."
James Allen was executed by lethal injection in Delaware. |
-
1993 |
Lionel Herrera
- death row |
"I am innocent, innocent,
innocent. Make no mistake about this. I owe society nothing. I
am an innocent man and something very wrong is taking place
tonight." states Lionel Herrera at his execution by lethal
injection in Texas. |
1913-
1994 |
Richard Milhous
Nixon
"Richard M. Nixon"
- 37th President |
"... help ..." was just
one word Nixon called out to a housekeeper. A blood clot had
formed in his upper heart as a result of his heart condition,
broke off and traveled to his brain. The stroke leaving him mute
and partially paralyzed on one side, deteriorating his condition
over the next several days when he slipped into a comma to die
the following day. |
1942-
1994 |
John Wayne Gacy,
Jr.
- searial killer
- death row |
"You can kiss my a__",
John Gacy says to a guard on the way to the execution chamber. |
-
1994 |
Kurt Cobain
- musician |
"Frances and Courtney, I'll
be at your altar. Please keep going Courtney, for Frances for
her life will be so much happier without me. I LOVE YOU. I LOVE
YOU." wrote Cobain in a suicide note. |
-
1994 |
Robert Drew
- death row |
"Remember, the death
penalty is murder." Robert Drew was executed by lethal
injection by the State of Texas. |
-
1994 |
John Thanos |
"Adios." John Thanos
was executed by lethal injection in Maryland. |
-
1995 |
Thomas J. Grasso
- death row |
"I did not get my
Spaghetti-O's, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this."
Grasso was executed in Oklahoma by lethal injection. |
1971-
1996 |
Tupac Amaru
Shakur
- rap, poet, artist, actor |
"I'm dyin', man" while
Shakur was being placed in an ambulance after being shot. |
1920-
1990 |
Timothy Francis
Leary
"Timothy Leary"
- 60s counterculture icon |
"Beautiful," was
Leary's final word that followed various inflections of "Why
Not," then "Why Not" for several renditions.
Another account has him saying "Why not? Yeah. |
1964-
1997 |
Chris Farley
- actor comedian |
"Please don't leave me.
Please don't leave me." pleaded Farley, after a weekend binge of drugs and
sex. A prostitute began to leave and turned to find that Farley
had collapsed. |
1908-
1997 |
James
Maitland Stewart
"Jimmy Stewart"
- actor |
"I'm going to go be with
Gloria now." |
1910-
1997 |
Mother Teresa
- catholic nun |
"Jesus, I love you. Jesus,
I love you." said Mother Teresa at her death. Pope John Paul II had declared her a ‘Doctor of
the Church’ like the big St. Teresa who's dying words were
similar, "Oh, I love him; my God, I love you". |
-
1997 |
Clarence Lackey
- death row |
"I love you, mom."
Lackey was executed by the State of Texas using lethal
injection. |
-
1997 |
Mario Benjamin
Murphy |
"Today is a good day to
die. I forgive all of you. I hope God does too." Murphy was
executed in Virginia by lethal injection. |
|
1997 |
Jessica Dubroff
- seven-year-old pilot |
"Do you hear the rain? Do
you hear the rain?" asked Jessica Dubroff just minutes
before the plane she was piloting crashed. |
|
1998 |
Frank Sinatra
- singer, actor |
"I'm losing."
Sinatra said to his
daughter, Nancy Sinatra. |
1949-
1998 |
Wendy Orlean
Williams
"Wendy O. Williams"
- punk singer |
"The act of taking my own
life is not something I am doing without a lot of thought. I
don't believe that people should take their own lives without
deep and thoughtful reflection over a considerable period of
time. I do believe strongly, however, that the right to do so is
one of the most fundamental rights that anyone in a free society
should have. For me much of the world makes no sense, but my
feelings about what I am doing ring loud and clear to an inner
ear and a place where there is no self, only calm. Love always,
Wendy." Wendy O. Williams' suicide note. |
1960-
1998 |
Karla Fay Tucker
(Brown)
- death row
- pickax murderer |
"I am going to
be face to face with Jesus now... Baby, I love you. Ron, give Peggy
a hug for me. Everybody has been so good to me.
I will see you all when you get there. I will wait for you."
Tucker saying prior to her execution in Texas for two pickax
murders. During her interment in prison she professed to have
become a Christian. (I was skeptical, but her last words show a
peace that few others exhibit at their execution.) |
|
2000s |
1971-
2000 |
Christina Marie
Riggs
- death row
- Murderer |
"There is no way words can express how sorry I am for taking the
lives of my babies. Now I can be with my babies, as I always.
intended... I love you, my babies." Christina Marie
Riggs in Arkansas on May 3, 2000 was executed. |
1950-
2000 |
Bennie Demps
-death row
- Murderer |
"They butchered me back
there, I was in a lot of pain. They cut me in the groin; they
cut me in the leg. I was bleeding profusely. This is not an
execution, it is murder." Bennie Demps referring to his
executioner's attempts to meet the state mandated requirement of
a second alternate intravenous drip. Giving up, the execution
proceeded with just the first injection. Demps was accused and
convicted of killing an inmate. |
1943-
2001 |
George Harrison
- muscian "Beattles" |
"Love one another."
Harrison says to his family that was gathered around as he was dying from cancer |
-
2001 |
Todd M.
Beamer
"Todd Beamer"
- citizen hero |
"Are you guys
ready? Let's roll!" Beamer is last heard by his wife on a
cell phone as he sets forth the resistance of passengers to the
terrorist hijacking of United flight 93, causing it to crash
land in a Pennsylvania field, rather than becoming a weapon
against the White House or U.S. Capital building on
September 11, 2001. |
?-
2001 |
Clifton Allen
White
- death row
- addict, murder |
"I just hope everything goes all right. I hope the Lord takes me
home. Thank you, warden." Clifton Allen White,
executed in North Carolina on August 24, 2001 |
|
2002 |
James Johnson
- death row
- Murderer |
"The news reports ... will say Jim Johnson is dead. Those
reports will be untrue. Today I shall meet Jesus my Lord and
Savior face to face. When the executioners have done their
worst, God will be shown to have done his best."
James Johnson's last words when executed in Missouri on
Jan. 9, 2002. |
|
2003 |
Timothy
Treadwell
- environmentalist |
"Get out here. I'm getting
killed," yelled Treadwell, as a bear mauled him to death.
His girlfriend, Amie Huguenard was also killed by the bear. |
1911-
2004 |
Ronald Reagan
- 40th President |
"Love," not
spoken but expressed with his eyes, was Reagan's last
communication. Patti Davis, Reagan's daughter said, "At the last
moment, when his breathing told us this was it, he opened his
eyes and looked straight at my mother." said Patti Davis,
Reagan's daughter who discribed his death as follows, "Eyes
that hadn't opened for days did, and they weren't chalky or
vague. They were clear and blue and full of love. If a
death can be lovely, his was." Nancy said to her husband the
expression was, "the greatest gift you could have given me." |
1937-
2005 |
Hunter S.
Thompson
- journalist, author |
"No More Games. No More
Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That
is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I
am always bitchy. No Fun — for anybody. 67. You are getting
Greedy. Act your old age. Relax — This won't hurt." in a
suicide note Thompson titled, "Football Season is Over." Police
say he died of a self-inflicted gun-shot to the head. |
1913-
2006 |
Gerald Rudolph Ford
"Gerald R. Ford"
"Gerald Ford"
- 38th President |
Last words unknown
(at this time) - The man's words for the future :
“I hope,” he responded, “that historians, 50 years from now,
will record that I helped heal the country from the tragedy of
Watergate; and that I brought our economy out of recession and
that I put America back on an affirmative path.” - Gerald R.
Ford. |
-
2006 |
James Brown
- god-father of soul |
"I don't think I'll be going
with you" James Brown says to a friend as he rolls over and is
gone. James Brown died Christmas day, 2006. |
-
2006 |
Danny Harold
Rolling
- death row
- serial killer |
"None greater than thee, O
Lord," Rolling sang. He sung the hymn prior and during the
administration of a lethal injection, in Florida. |
|
2007 |
Robert Comer
-death row
-murderer |
"Go Raiders."
were the last words of Robert Comer who held a picture of his
daughter when executed on May 22nd in Arizona, after his
petition to stop his appeals. |
|
2007 |
Patrick Knight
- death row
- double murderer |
"Death has set me
free; that's the biggest joke. I deserve this." Patrick
Knight had held an internet contest for the best joke, but in
sensitivity to his victims and their family he decided against
it. He was executed in Texas on June 26, 2007 |
|
Presidents still Alive w/quotes
that speak to the future. |
1924
-
Alive |
James Earl
Carter
"Jimmy Carter"
- 39th President |
"There
should be an honest attempt at the reconciliation of differences
before resorting to combat." - Jimmy carter
But, Mr. Carter, "When resorting to combat one
side has proven itself disingenuous." -PoetPatriot. |
1924
-
Alive |
George Herbert Walker Bush
"George H. W. Bush"
"George Bush''
- 42nd President |
"For more than forty years,
America and its allies held communism in check and insured that
democracy would continue to exist. And today, with communism
crumbling, our aim must be to insure democracy's advance, to
take the lead in forging peace and freedom's best hope, a great
and growing commonwealth of free nations." - George H.W. Bush |
1946
-
Alive |
William
Jefferson Clinton
"Bill Clinton"
- 43rd President |
"What you have to do is find
out what you care about and try to apply yourself to it, and not
just live with your memories." - Bill Clinton |
1946
-
Alive |
George
Walker Bush, Jr.
"George W. Bush"
"G. W. Bush"
- 44th President |
"We have one country,
one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come
together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness
of America." George W. Bush. |
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