Walter Hogue (Execution of)

Walter Hogue was hanged at Perryville (Perry County) on March 11, 1910, for the murder of a hunting companion.

On January 20, 1909, two hunters were passing a log cabin in the Fourche La Fave River bottoms near Aplin (Perry County) when their “attention…was attracted…by a foul odor emanating from it.” They broke in and found a decaying body with three bullet holes in the head.

Perry County sheriff J. E. Oliver had received a letter from the mother of Grover Misner (sometimes spelled Meisner) of Haroldton (Crawford County) saying that she had not heard from her son in some time and that he and Walter Hogue had been on a hunting and trapping trip together in Perry County in November 1908. Misner, age seventeen, was in poor health, and his parents had thought the trip would be good for him. Hogue, age twenty, accompanied him.

Misner’s half brother traveled to Perryville and positively identified the body, and Oliver went to Mansfield (Sebastian and Scott counties) and arrested Hogue. A grand jury indicted him on February 8, 1909, and Oliver brought him to the Pulaski County jail in Little Rock (Pulaski County) for safekeeping because “the feeling against Walter Hogue…would result in trouble.”

Hogue was tried in Perryville in August 1909, and after a two-day trial during which it was “shown…that Misner had $80 about the time he was murdered and this is supposed to have been the motive for the crime,” the jury deliberated for twenty-four hours before returning a verdict of guilty of first-degree murder on August 10. September 24 was set as the date for his execution, and Hogue was taken to the Arkansas State Penitentiary to avoid a possible lynching in Perry County.

Hogue reportedly confessed to the crime, saying that he had wanted to return to Crawford County but he owed Misner money, and the latter did not want him to leave until he repaid it; the Perry County News reported that Hogue waited until Misner went to bed then shot him twice in the head, shooting him a third time when he “groaned and stretched out his arms.” Hogue then took Misner’s money and locked the cabin from the outside.

On September 22, 1909, Governor George Washington Donaghey granted a stay of execution until October 15 to allow time for Hogue’s lawyers to appeal his conviction to the Arkansas Supreme Court. A few days before the rescheduled execution, Hogue sent the governor a letter seeking commutation of his sentence because “he is a very young man and is not ready to die.” Donaghey met the condemned man in the penitentiary but said he would not consider commutation until the Supreme Court ruled in the case.

A lengthy delay in preparing the trial transcript kept the case from going to the court, but on October 13 the justices agreed to take the appeal, again delaying Hogue’s hanging. However, on January 17, 1910, a divided court affirmed the conviction. Donaghey set a new execution date for March 11, 1910.

Hogue’s attorney made a last-ditch appeal for commutation a week before the hanging date, but Donaghey refused. Hogue then wrote a letter telling his mother goodbye and claiming that he killed Misner in self-defense.

Sheriff Oliver escorted Hogue to the gallows at 12:30 p.m. on March 11, where a crowd estimated at 500 to 1,000 had gathered. The condemned man “walked without a tremor” to the scaffold and “mounted…without hesitation or a single faltering step.” He spoke to the crowd for twenty minutes, again claiming self-defense, after which two preachers accompanying him sang hymns and said prayers.

After placing the noose around Hogue’s neck and a black cap over his head, Oliver opened the trap door at 1:00 p.m. “In the fall the knot slipped from behind the ear and lodged under the prisoner’s chin, but the fall broke Hogue’s neck,” the Arkansas Democrat reported. “He died with hardly a struggle.”

Hogue was one of two men who would be hanged for murder in Perry County in 1910, with John Adkins being executed on May 27.

For additional information:
“Decayed Body of Slain Man Found.” Arkansas Gazette, January 24, 1909, p. 2.

“Hogue Brought Here for Safekeeping.” Arkansas Gazette, February 10, 1909, p. 7.

“Hogue Confesses Killing Misner.” Arkansas Democrat, September 13, 1909, p. 3.

“Hogue Execution Stayed Until October 15.” Arkansas Democrat, September 22, 1909, p. 1.

“Hogue Gets New Lease on Life.” Log Cabin Democrat, October 14, 1909, p. 1.

“Hogue in the Pen.” Arkansas Democrat, August 16, 1909, p. 7.

“Hogue Is Hanged; Does Not Falter.” Arkansas Gazette, March 12, 1910, p. 2.

“Hogue on Scaffold Admits Killing Grover Misner.” Arkansas Democrat, March 11, 1910, p. 1.

“Hogue Pleads for Commutation of Sentence.” Arkansas Democrat, October 13, 1909, p. 1, 8.

“Hogue to Hang Mar. 11.” Arkansas Democrat, February 6, 1910, p. 8.

“Hogue Writes Mother Farewell.” Arkansas Democrat, March 7, 1910, p. 6.

“Hogue’s Last Hope.” Arkansas Democrat, March 4, 1910, p. 4.

“Mandamus on the State Auditor Upheld.” Arkansas Democrat, January 17, 1910, p. 1.

“Perry County Boy Convicted of Murder.” Log Cabin Democrat, August 11, 1909, p. 1.

“Won’t Talk of Misner’s Murder.” Arkansas Democrat, February 14, 1909, p. 7.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas