"Galloping Gallows" Old Montana Prison - Deer Lodge, MT
Posted by: 
linkys
N 46° 23.502 W 112° 44.147
12T E 366547 N 5139033
Portable gallows used for official executions in Montana between 1920 and 1939
Waymark Code: WM7NTD
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 11/15/2009
Views: 7
The Galloping Gallows got its nickname from the fact it was built to serve as a mobile unit, each part being designed so that the gallows could be easily dismantled and moved quickly, or galloped to the next site.
It is one of the few original hanging gallows remaining in the United States. It is of the trapdoor scaffold design, with a traditional set of 13 very unlucky steps leading up to the platform. Built in 1920, it was used for the first time on September 3, 1920, when Alfred Lane was hanged in Forsyth, MT for the murder of a local rancher, Mr. Harry Thread. After that it was used whenever the need arose for an official hanging scaffold throughout eastern Montana.
In all, seven men dropped through it's trapdoor to their death, it being used for the last time on December 30, 1939 for the execution of Lee Simpson after he confessed to murdering two ranch hands and a deputy sheriff.
With hanging no longer a legal form of execution in Montana, it is now retired and sits in the burned out theater of the Old Montana Prison.
Type of Device: Gallows
What is the approximate age?: 09/03/1920
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Associated Website: [Web Link]
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