Irene Schroeder
Irene Schroeder (1909-1931) was an American criminal, who became the first woman to be executed by electrocution in Pennsylvania, and the fourth woman to be executed in the whole of the United States.[1][2] She was given several nicknames by the press, including 'Trigger Woman', 'Iron Irene', 'Irene of the six-shooters', 'animal woman', 'the blonde tiger' and 'the blonde bandit'.[1][2]
Irene Schroeder (née Crawford) was born in 1909 in Benwood, West Virginia.[2] At the age of 15, she married Homer Schroeder, and they had a son Donnie a year later.[2] She soon left Homer, becoming a waitress in Wheeling, West Virginia.[2] Here, she met Walter Glenn Dague, who became her lover.[2]
On 27 December 1929, Irene, Walter and Irene's brother Tom were involved in a grocery store robbery in Butler, Pennsylvania.[1][2] While escaping from the scene of the crime, they were stopped by two police officers, Brady Paul and Ernest Moore.[2] A shoot-out ensued: Paul was shot dead and Moore was wounded.[1][2] Schroeder, Crawford and Dague all escaped and went into hiding, leaving Irene's four-year-old son (who had been in the car at the time) with a family member.[2]
Donnie was soon interviewed by the police, and his testimony was later used to help convict his mother. He stated:
My mama shot one cop and he laid back off the car groaning. Uncle Tom shot another one in the head. He shot right through the windshield.[1]
Tom Crawford was never arrested; police believe he was killed in a shoot-out following a robbery in Texas.[1] After a long manhunt, Dague and Schroeder were both apprehended following a shoot-out in Arizona.[1] They were tried in Pennsylvania and sentenced to death by electrocution - Schroeder was the first female to be executed in this way in Pennsylvania.[1]
Schroeder was executed on 23 February 1931 at 7.05 a.m., wearing 'a gray dress of imitation silk with white collars and cuffs, beige silk stockings and black satin slippers'.[1] Her executioner remarked that she seemed particularly 'composed and fearless'.[1] Her parting words to her son Donnie were 'I am going to die, my boy, but I am not afraid. Be a good boy and don't be afraid'.[1] Donnie was heard to remark,'I'll bet mom would make an awful nice angel'.[2]