Henry Ruhl

On June 30, 1943, Henry Ruhl, a transient farm worker who had absconded from parole in Washington, robbed and murdered Matt Katmo, a defense production worker, on a military reservation near Laramie, Wyoming. Katmo and a date were picnicking in the Telephone Canyon area when Ruhl demanded Katmo’s car and killed him when he resisted.

Ruhl was tried in the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming. He was convicted of first degree murder on May 26, 1944, and sentenced to death on June 30, 1944.

After his conviction was upheld on appeal, Henry Ruhl was executed in the gas chamber of the Wyoming State Penitentiary on April 27, 1945.

Author: Bill Lofquist

I am a sociologist and death penalty scholar at the State University of New York at Geneseo. I am also a Pittsburgh native. My present research focuses on the history of the death penalty in Allegheny County (Pittsburgh), Pa. This website is dedicated to collecting, analyzing, and sharing information about all Allegheny County cases in which a death sentence was imposed. Please share any questions or comments, errors or omissions, or other matters of interest related to these cases or to the broader history of the death penalty in Allegheny County. View all posts by Bill Lofquist