Frank Dupre, 19, Cheerful Before He Was Hung Before Large Crowd, Sept. 1, 1922

Dupre Pays Penalty For His Crime With His Life on Gallows. . . Scenes Attending Execution of Youth in Atlanta Jail Most Dramatic Ever Seen. . . Crowd Was Great. . . After Long Religious Service Youth Bids Sweetheart Farewell and Walks to Gallows. . . Took Detective’s Life. . . Just Before Black Cap Adjusted Over His Head He Asked to Sing “A Mother’s Prayer Has Followed Me”

By the Associated Press

Atlanta, Sept. 1—Maintaining his stoicism t the last and with a smile on his lips as the black cap was adjusted preparatory to spring the trip under him, Frank B. Dupre, 19 years old, paid the death penalty at the Fulton county jail here today for the murder of Irby C. Walker, private detective, December 15, last. The trap was sprung at 2:04 o’clock and 16 minutes later the youth was pronounced dead.

The scenes attending the execution of Dupre were described by old jail officials the most dramatic ever witnessed by them. Outside the jail, the streets on three sides were blocked with persons eager to get a glimpse of the proceedings. Even the tops of buildings nearby were occupied by men, women and children. Police reserves were called out to keep order. Inside the prison walls, Dupre probably was more composed than any of the officials, witnesses or fellow prisoners.

The youthful bandit was engaged in religious services when the fall of the death trap for Luke McDonald, negro, convicted for the murder of a negro woman, could be heard throughout the jail. He paid no attention to the subject which within the hour was to mean his own end. He continued in prayer until 15 minutes of the hour set for his execution, when unfalteringly he started for the gallows five stories above.

Upon reaching the death chamber, Dupre stopped and looked out a window.

“That’s some crowd, isn’t it?” he said to his brother, Joe Dupre.

He then pointed out acquaintances below and waved to them, shouting: “Goodbye!”

A deputy sheriff called his attention to Betty Andrews, the sweetheart for whom he robbed the jewelry store and killed Walker. She was in a cell two floors below, her face pressed closely against the bars of the window. She became hysterical at the sight of the condemned youth, who shouted to her:

“Goodbye, Betty. I want you to be a good girl. Won’t you?”

His words were drowned in the cries of the crowds below.

“Be good, Betty; be good,” Dupre repeated again and again. Then as the crowd became quiet: “You are going to meet me in Heaven, ain’t you, Betty?” the bandit shouted at his sweetheart.

“Yes,” was the reply.

Dupre turned to a deputy sheriff and asked:

“Well, are you all ready?”

The deputy, too choked with emotion to reply, led the boy away to the gallows.

“God bless you all,” Dupre shouted, as he waved a farewell.

The condemned youth led the procession to the gallows, surveyed his surroundings and then asked his spiritual advisors to sing:

“A Mother’s Prayer Has Followed Me.”

Dupre’s last audible words, uttered as the black cap was being adjusted over his head, were: “Please brush back my hair.”

The suit in which Dupre was hanged was the same one worn by him on the day of his crimes.

The execution of Dupre brought to an end one of the most determined legal battles ever waged in the history of Georgia criminal courts. All other efforts having failed to stay execution, a final appeal was made to President Harding yesterday, but he replied that he was without authority to intervene in the case.

From the local front page, Durham Morning Herald, Sept. 2, 1922