Eric Renshaw

For the Argus Leader

The first man legally executed in Sioux Falls was Thomas Egan. He was hanged three times near what is now the Old Courthouse Museum. What follows is the brutal story with a tragic twist, part of our Looking Back series that gives historical accounts of the community.

Thomas Egan was born in Ireland in 1835 and immigrated amid many other Irish to the U.S. following The Great Famine, a period starting in 1845 in which potatoes, the main dietary staple, succumbed to a blight that destroyed the crops for year.

In 1866, he married Mary Hayden Lyons in Madison, Wis. She was a widow and had a 5-year-old daughter, Catherine. When Thomas and Mary moved to Dakota Territory in 1876, Catherine stayed behind with relatives for a while until her mother, stepfather and young brothers could get established in the area. By 1879, she had joined them and married neighbor James Van Horn.

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Warning to more sensitive readers: What follows is fairly brutal.

Three days after she had gone missing, Mary Egan was found dead in the basement of the Egan family home, a sod house north of Hartford. Gruesome details were printed in the paper after the trial that found her husband guilty of her murder. It was said that on the morning of Sept. 12, 1880, Thomas sent their children, Sylvester, John and Tommy, away so he could carry out his grim task. He approached her as she washed dishes, threw a rope around her neck and began to strangle her. While she was incapacitated, he brutally beat her about the head with a club until he was sure she was done for. After that, he threw her in the basement through a trapdoor in the floor. She was found three days later, having moved toward a wall and into a semi-reclining position. This suggested that she may have expired after a fair amount of time had elapsed. Neighbors were horrified and testified that the couple argued often. Thomas Egan was arrested quickly.

By December 1881, Egan had been tried and found guilty of murder. Before long, the Sioux Falls Pantagraph suggested that Egan might be the same Thomas Egan who was implicated for a brutal murder in Minnesota in 1864.

In May 1882, Egan was refused a new trial, and Honorable Judge Jefferson Kidder sentenced him to death by hanging. Upon sentencing, Egan said, “Amen, I guess I can stand it.”

A noose was ordered from a company in Lincoln, Neb., that manufactured items for just such an occasion. It was woven of silk and hemp and came accompanied by a written guarantee. The rope arrived late on the night before the scheduled hanging. It was not tested.

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Thomas Egan was given a hearty last breakfast on the morning of his execution, July 13, 1882. He was read the death warrant at 9:10 a.m. His arms were tied, and he was walked to the gallows. At 9:34 a.m., he was placed in position on the trapdoor with the noose adjusted on his neck. At 9:35 a.m., Sheriff Dickson sprung the trap. Egan dropped 5 1/2 feet, at which point the rope snapped with “a report like a percussion cap.” Egan landed on his feet and fell on his face and stomach, all the while emitting “a most blood-curdling noise.” Four men brought him back up to the gallows. A new manila rope was arranged as quickly as possible. They put the new noose on him and the trap was sprung again, but before the rope could be adjusted correctly. Egan was unable to drop far enough to provide him a quick death. He was hauled up and again hanged, though this time correctly. He was pronounced dead at 9:46 a.m. The community at large was satisfied that justice was served and that a wife murderer would no longer be counted among their population.

On June 3, 1927, Thomas Egan’s stepdaughter, Catherine Van Horn, died. Before doing so, she relieved her soul of the burden she had carried since September 1880. She admitted that not only had she killed her mother in Dakota Territory, but she had let her stepfather hang for it.

Eric Renshaw of Sioux Falls has written the book "Forgotten Sioux Falls" and gives a historical perspective on his website GreetingsFromSiouxFalls.com.

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