Rage Thy Name is Carl by M.P. Pellicer

Rage Thy Name is Carl

6/23/2024

By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
"In my lifetime I have murdered 21 human beings, I have committed thousands of burglaries, robberies, larcenies, arsons and last but not least I have committed sodomy on more than 1,000 male human beings. For all these things I am not in the least bit sorry". - Carl Panzram, c. 1930

Carl Panzram (1891-1930) mugshot from 1915

Carl Panzram was a tall, tattooed man with ruthless gray eyes. He stowed away on a ship bound for Angola around 1920 to work as a merchant seaman. After arriving he bought a ticket on a Belgian steamer headed to Lobito Bay. Once there he hired a half-dozen local guides for a crocodile-hunting expedition. But Panzram had other prey on his mind.

As their canoe wended its way down the river, he shot each crew member dead, sodomized their corpses before feeding them to the hungry crocodiles lurking in the waters. He took their canoe and headed back to town.

That was just one of many crimes, including 23 murders and more than 1,000 rapes of young boys and men Panzram admitted to committing. Unlike charming and cunning serial killer Ted Bundy, Panzram remained brutally honest. “For all of these things, I am not the least bit sorry,” he seethed in his autobiography, penned from his prison cell. “I hate the whole damned human race including myself.”

Carl Panzram, age 37

Carl Panzram seemed to have been born under unlucky stars. In 1871, his father Johann Panzram an immigrant from Poland married Bertha Barz and had three children with her. She died in 1877 after giving birth to their youngest child, Martha who died a year later. Another child Herman born in 1877, was given over to paternal family members who adopted and brought the baby up.

In 1878, Johann Panzram married Bertha Price (née Bouldan) who had three children of her own from a previous marriage (Anna, Louis and Gustav Price). Bertha had immigrated from Germany.

Johann and Bertha had three children of their own, Albert b.1884, Louise b.1889 and Carl b. 1891. The couple farmed the land in Minnesota, and when Carl was 7 years old his father abandoned the family. He was beaten by his older half-brothers who were already adults when he was a boy. This is when he he started his life of crime. When he was eight he was convicted of drunk and disorderly conduct.

In 1898, he was sent to Red Wing reform school in St. Cloud as a plea deal for a string of burglaries. He was introduced into sadism within the walls of Red Wing by enduring beatings and rapes. In return he started a fire in the workshop. He had spent six years within its walls.

By the time he was a teenager he had become an alcoholic.

In 1906, after he had set the fire, he was paroled into his mother's care. She was grieving over the death of her older son, Louis Price who had drowned in a logging accident. Panzram ran away from home and hitched rides on freight trains. During a ride in a boxcar he was gang raped by transients who left him "a sadder, sicker but wiser boy" Panzram wrote in his autobiography.

As Panzram grew into a muscular 6 foot man he became the victimizer instead of the victim. He paid back in kind by raping hobos, sometimes forcing one hobo to rape another while he held them at gunpoint.

Once while he was raping a hobo, he was found in the boxcar by a brakeman. He forced the hobo to sodomize the brakeman, before he did it himself.

In 1911, Carl was keeping company with an Indian when they robbed a railroader of $35. They tied his arms and legs and stuffed a sock in his mouth. "I figured that as I had such a good chance as that, I would commit a little sodomy on him... He is still there, unless the buzzards and coyotes have finished the last of him long ago." This was around the time he tried to enlist in the Federal Mexican Army in Ciudad Juarez.

After this he was sent to the Montana State Reformatory where he quickly engineered an escape. But where Panzram went, trouble followed. In 1908, he did three years in Leavenworth for burglary committed shortly after enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1907. When he was released he was 19 years old, and had grown strong from doing hard labor.

Carl Panzram when he was using the alias of Jeff Davis in Montana State Pen c.1913

Around 1913 he did a stretch in Montana's Big Pen. Then he was using the alias of Jeff Davis. This was one of many aliases he used during his life.

Upon his release he raped countless young men and boys as he made his way through Idaho, California and other states along the Columbia River.

In 1915, he was arrested in Chinook, Michigan for burglary, and he escaped after 8 months into a 1 year sentence.

He headed to Oregon, where he burglarized buildings, and burned down churches, something he regularly did throughout his travels. He was arrested and sentenced to seven years in Oregon State Penitentiary. He agreed to disclose the location of stolen property in exchange for leniency, but was still sentenced to seven years. This enraged him so much since he felt betrayed by the prosecution that he broke out of his cell, and set fire to the jail.

He was transferred to Salem Correctional Facility known as the toughest prison in the state. There he managed to burn down the prison workshop and flax mill, incite a prison revolt and he rampaged with an axe. This got him an additional seven years for his troubles.

Henry Percy “Harry” Minto had been a hard-working and well-regarded peace officer for many years when he was elected into the office of sheriff in 1907. He spent many years on the Salem police force, serving as an officer, a captain, and as the Salem marshal.

Otto Hooker, prisoner who killed Harry Minto c.1915

On May 1, 1915 Harry Minto took over as the warden at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Four months later, on September 27, Warden Minto was shot and killed while on a manhunt for Otto Hooker, who was serving a two and a half year sentence for burglary; he had been outside of the prison walls on a work detail when he fled.

Hooker had made his way into Jefferson where he was confronted by Marshal Benson, as he was still dressed in prison stripes. A struggle ensued and Hooker got a hold of the marshal’s gun after striking him unconscious. The prisoner stood over Benson and shot him, but he would survive. Word of what happened to Benson reached Minto late that night. He along with Officer Johnson searched the railroad tracks running north out of Albany for Hooker. Close to midnight they found him and exchanged gunfire since he still had Benson's gun. Warden Minto was killed when he was struck in the forehead with a bullet. Hooker was killed the next day by a posse of officers that came from across the region to hunt him down.

Harry Minto c.1908

What part did Panzram play in this? He was the one that helped fellow inmate Hooker break out.

Panzram made his own escape in September, 1917, seriously injuring a guard. He was involved in several shootouts before being recaptured. In May, 1918 he sawed the prison bars and escaped, stowing away on a freight train heading east. He shaved off his moustache and started using the name John O'Leary.

But this time he got out of the country by hiring onto the steamship James S. Whitney headed to South America. Along the way he worked in several places, including a copper mine in Peru, and an oil rig in Chile, which for some unknown reason he burnt down. While in Panama, he tried to steal a boat with the help of a drunken shipmate. The crew on the boat were all killed. His travels took him to London, Edinburgh where he did a short stint in jail, Paris and Hamburg.

Carl Panzram mugshot c.1928

In 1920, Panzram burgled William Howard Taft's home in New Haven, stealing jewelry, bonds and a .45 caliber handgun, which he used in several murders. Ironically Taft who served as Secretary of War in 1907, approved the sentence that sent Panzram to Leavenworth for three years.

That same year Panzram strangled a 12-year-old with his belt. This was near Boston, but he could not recall the boy's name.

Flush with money from his robberies he purchased a yacht named the Akista, which he renamed the John O'Leary, in homage to his alter-ego. He visited the local taverns and lured sailors back to the yacht with promises of liquor and work. Once there he got them drunk, sodomized them, took their money and shot them in the head before dumping the weighted body in Long Island Sound. In the meantime he sailed around robbing other yachts. He would go on to kill ten sailors in a three week period. He noticed his nautical neighbors were growing suspicious, and he weighed anchor with two of the sailors and meandered along the Jersey Shore. Near Atlantic City, a gale blew up that smashed the yacht to pieces, and Panzram and his two passengers barely made it to shore. His two intended victims disappeared, unaware of how close they had come to a watery grave.

In 1921, Panzram was sent to jail for six months in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Upon his release he joined a maritime union that was in the middle of a labor strike. Panzram was involved in a gun battle with police due to a confrontation with strikebreakers. He jumped bail, and stowed away on a ship bound for Luanda, Angola. He landed a job as a foreman on an oil rig owned by Sinclair Oil Company.

Panzram was not deterred by being on a different continent. He raped and killed a young boy, which he later described the act in his confession as: "His brains were coming out of his ears when I left him and he will never be any deader." He returned to Lobito Bay living at a fishing village, where the natives suspected him of the boy's murder. After this he hired the ill-fated guides that would end up as crocodile food.

Panzram knew he had to leave Lobito Bay since he was seen with the men, which had not returned with him. He headed to Point Banana, which was up the Congo River, and from there he made it to the Gold Coast. He funded a trip to the Canary Islands by robbing farmers, but then he ran out of money and robbery victims. He stowed away on a ship bound for Lisbon, Portugal since Angola at that time was under Portuguese rule, but he soon found the authorities were aware of the crimes he committed in Africa, and he made his stay there a brief one. He stowed away on a ship and arrived in the United States in 1922.

By now Panzram had learned to keep on the move and change his name, especially after committing a crime, which was quite often. He renewed his captain's license and planned to steal a boat and make it the Akista, which of course was lost two years before. He ended up in Salem, Massachusetts in search of a ship that was similar to his one time yacht. On July 18, 1922 he crossed paths with 12-year-old Henry McMahon, a crime that went unsolved for six years.

Panzram headed to New York, aware that once the boy's body was discovered law enforcement would be swarming the streets looking for the perpetrator. Henry's body was not found for three days giving him a considerable headstart.

He continued in his search for a replacement boat, and rented an apartment in Yonkers using the name of John O'Leary and got a job at a mill. He met George Walosin, 15, and later wrote about the teenager: "I started to teach him the fine art of sodomy but I found he had been taught all about it and he liked it fine." George's predilection saved his life, at least for the time being.

Carl Panzram

Even though his victims were usually men, on June 16, 1923 he strangled a Kingston (NY) woman "for the fun it gave me."

Later in the summer of 1923 he stole a 38 feet long boat, and he headed for Long Island Sound. He burglarized homes and boats in Connecticut since he docked at New Haven.

He picked up George Walosin and told him he could work on the yawl as they made their way upriver. In a small bay off Hudson River they repainted the boat and changed the name.

Panzram went onshore to look for a possible buyer. He found a young man that was interested and they had a few drinks together on the ship. The man turned out not to be a buyer, but a criminal himself who tried to stick up Panzram. However Panzram anticipated the situation and shot the man twice in the head, and dumped the body overboard after weighing it down. George saw what happened, and one has to wonder if he realized he was a witness to a murder. Apparently he did because he swam ashore when they docked in Newburgh. When he reached Yonkers he told police about being assaulted by Panzram.

Eventually Panzram was arrested and charged with sodomy, burglary and robbery. He hired a lawyer and promised him the yacht as payment. Panzram was released on bail, and he left town immediately. When his attorney went to register the boat he discovered it was stolen. He was out a boat and the bail money.

Two weeks later Panzram was arrested for breaking into the Larchmont Train Station. He was using the alias of John O'Leary. Authorities there verified he was wanted in Oregon where he was known as Jeff Baldwin, and that he had a 14-year sentence waiting for him. He was sent to Sing-Sing prison, and then transferred to Clinton Prison where difficult prisoners were kept. In 1924 he attempted to escape, and jumped down 30 feet where he broke both of his ankles. This injury left him with a pronounced limp. During the time there he fantasized of killing a huge amount of people at once.

He was paroled in July, 1928 from Dannemora Prison.

Henry McMahon was murdered in 1922 by Panzram, his case would remain unsolved for 6 years

Within days of his release Panzram killed Alexander Uszacki, a paper boy in Philadelphia. He met Alexander at the foot of State Street in Philadelphia and lured him to a spot about a quarter mile from Pier 98. He raped and strangled the boy. When Uszacki's body was found, it was skeletonized and they couldn't identify the teenager. The body was wrapped in a blanket stolen from the Essington Yacht Club. Around the remains were some pieces of a radio set. He was buried in a pauper's grave and it wasn't until Panzram's confession several months later that the body was exhumed, and identified by his parents Rajten and Helen Uszacki, who were Polish immigrants and lived at 205 Carpenter Street, Philadelphia.

Panzram told police he had forced the youth to help him steal the radio and other articles from a yacht in the Delaware River. He also told police how he had left the boy's tennis shoes tied together near the body. These details confirmed to authorities that Panzram was not confessing to a crime he had not committed.

A month later he sodomized and killed a 16-year-old who was begging. He wore thick glasses and after buying him something to eat, they went into the woods. Panzram waited for the to boy finish eating, then raped and strangled him. He said he enjoyed this murder the most, because the boy said he was related to a policeman in Brooklyn, New York. The teenager was found within days of being murdered, but has never been identified.

A week later he was arrested for committing burglaries in Washington D.C. Panzram who stood 6 feet tall and weighed 200 pounds exuded menace. He had a large tattoo of a boat's anchor on his left forearm, another anchor with an eagle and the head of a Chinese man on his right forearm, and two eagles on his massive chest with the words " LIBERTY and JUSTICE" tattooed underneath their wings.

While awaiting trial he started to confess to the murders of the teenagers. Up to that point authorities believed that Panzram was just a serial burglar.

One of his confessions involved the cold case of Henry McMahon. In 1922, the 12-year-old was lured into a pasture, where his beaten and mutilated body was found. His head was battered, and there was evidence he was sodomized since Antonio Costello, a known child predator was held for a time as a suspect. Later that same year Costello was convicting of sexually assaulting another boy, age 12.

"I grabbed him (McMahon) by the arm and told him I was going to kill him," Panzram said in his confession. "I stayed with the boy about three hours. During that time, I committed sodomy on the boy six times, and then I killed him by beating his brains out with a rock. I had stuffed down his throat several sheets of paper out of a magazine."

Initially police believed he was fabricating the crimes in order to be executed, however his description of the murders were too detailed to be made up.

He was sentenced to 25 years for the conviction on burglary charges, and sent to Leavenworth Prison in November, 1928. On March 26, 1929 Panzram made the following request in order to work in the laundry:

I want that job because I am doing a long time and I am an old crank and I want to be by myself. I am a cripple and the job I have now I don't like, standing on my broken ankles bothers me. I am very truly, Carl Panzram #31614."

Carl Panzram while at Salem Correctional Facility

There he met Henry Lesser (1902-1983), a 26-year-old prison guard who would give give him a dollar to buy cigarettes and food. The two became friends, and Lesser eventually slipped him a pencil and a few sheets of paper, urging him to write his life story.

Later on when he confessed to his many crimes, he said he often raped men he robbed, not because he was homosexual but this was how he dominated and humiliated them.

Authorities in the three jurisdictions where he killed the boys were preparing to charge him for the crimes.

In January, 1929 he confessed to the murder of a man in Texas. According to the El Paso Evening Post, he described the murder in a letter to the sheriff in this manner:

I killed the man, his name I do not know. I took his money, tied his feet together with a belt, tied his hands and then trussed his hands and feet together behind his back with a suspender. I tied him to a mesquite bush and kicked his head off and strangled him until he stopped wriggling. Whether he was ever found or if he is stilled tied to that tree I don't know.

Robert Warnke (1882-1929)

In February, 1929 Panzram was transferred to Leavenworth Prison. Four months later he crushed civilian laundry foreman Robert Warnke’s skull with a flat iron, then chased other prisoners around until he was subdued by guards. He was sent to solitary, and it was this crime which ultimately sent him to the gallows.

Panzram's brother Albert who lived near Seattle hired M.J. Lane to represent his brother. The idea was to block extradition and declare Panzram insane. By then both of Panzram's parents had died.

The prisoner refused to ask for executive clemency. His hanging was to be the first one in Kansas after forty years. Panzram got the death he craved on September 5, 1930. “Hurry it up, you Hoosier bastard!” he seethed at the executioner — “rage personified,” as he referred to himself, until the end. “I could kill 10 men while you’re fooling around!”

After his body was taken down from the gallows, an autopsy was performed. His body was unclaimed and he was buried in row #6, grave #24 of Leavenworth's cemetery. His tombstone was etched only with "31614".

Lesser kept Panzram’s writings, but publishers weren’t comfortable with the graphic manuscript until 1970, when it was published as Killer: A Journal of Murder. Lesser donated Panzram's writings to San Diego State University in 1980. They are housed in the Malcolm A. Love Library as the "Carl Panzram papers"

"I believe the only way to reform people is to kill them." —Carl Panzram