Robert Cotton and his wife, Cynthia, lived in Vian in the Indian Territory in the final days before Oklahoma statehood. On August 6, 1905, Robert, who was Black and had escaped from prison in Tennessee, stabbed and killed his wife.
Once arrested, he confessed. At trial in federal court in Sallisaw, Cotton was convicted of first-degree murder on May 26, 1906, and sentenced to death on June 1.
Robbert Cotton was hanged at Vinita on September 4, 1906.
The Federal Death Penalty Project 