Rufus Binyon, his wife, and an eight-year old orphaned girl named Mary Hawthorne, all of whom were Black, lived near Ran, Indian Territory.
On May 18, 1900, while his wife was away from home, Binyon raped and killed young Mary, put her body in the fire to destroy the evidence of his crimes, and left. When his wife returned, she found Mary’s body in the fire and, believing she had fallen into the fire, yelled for help.
When neighbors responded and pulled Mary’s body from the fire, they realized that she had been beaten. Rufus confessed.
Binyon was convicted of murder on January 15, 1902, and was sentenced to death. After appeals that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Rufus Binyon was hanged in Ardmore on September 22, 1905.
The Federal Death Penalty Project 