On April 15, 1932, Walter Dubuc, at age 17, the youngest person to be condemned to death in Washington, dies by hanging at the State Penitentiary at Walla Walla. His codefendant Harold Carpenter, age 35, is executed at the same time, making this the first double execution in state history.
On July 11, 1931, Carpenter, Dubuc, and Ethel Willis robbed Thurston County farmer Peter Jacobsen, age 85, at his home on Chambers Prairie. According to statements given by the defendants later, Dubuc struck Jacobsen, then fled. Carpenter bludgeoned Jacobsen to death with the butt of a rifle. Carpenter was arrested two weeks later in Yakima with Jacobsen's pocket knife and $2. Some $3,000 in cash and $650 in gold that Jacobsen was known to own was never located. A Thurston County jury convicted all three of first-degree murder. In a separate verdict, the jury sentenced Carpenter and Dubuc to death and Willis, the mother of two children, to life imprisonment.
Dubuc was variously reported as being 16, 17, and 18 years of age at the time of the offense. He claimed that he was 16. An effort by E. V. Hawks of Seattle, a member of the National Prison Survey Association, collected 6,400 signatures on a petition to Governor Roland Hartley to commute Dubuc's sentence to life imprisonment. Hartley denied the request.
Both men signed a statement in their death row cells claiming that the intention was only to rob the victim and that his death was "all a mistake" (Times). Dubuc believed that his life would be spared and when he learned at midnight that the sentence would be carried out, he "broke" (Star). He was led by two guards to the specially built gallows "sobbing and moaning, 'Don't let them hang me' " (Star). His last words, "Oh Jesus save me. Oh Jesus..." were cut off as the black cap was dropped over his head. Carpenter walked unassisted to the gallows and remained emotionless. He even managed a sneer at the 50 witnesses positioned to watch the execution.
At 12:27 a.m., three guards pressed buttons, only one of which was connected to the traps. Carpenter was pronounced dead after 12 minutes and Dubuc after 14 minutes. The state's only other double execution was to come in 1953, when brothers Turman and Utah Wilson were put to death for the kidnapping and murder of 18-year-old Jo Ann Dewey of Battleground.
