Barbara Graham (also sometimes refered to as Barbara Wood) was born in June 26, 1923. She was a native of Oakland, California. She also lived for some time at San Quentin. Barbara Graham gained notoriety as an American criminal and was also convicted as a murderess. She had to pay with her life and was executed in the gas chamber along with two of her accomplices.
Barbara Graham sold herself as prostitute and even indulge in using drugs. She was nick named as “Bloody Babs” by the media. Another case that became notorious in the limelight was when she was convicted of beating an aged widow Mable Monohan to death during a faile robbery attempt. She met her other accomplices through her fourth beau Henry Graham, who was also a career criminal and father of her son, Tommy.
Her infamous line before her execution was “Good people are always so sure they are right.”
Barbara Graham is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, San Rafael, California.
Your English is obviously a second language.
in responce to: Your English is obviously a second language.
whats your point?
I’m very curious. Barbara’s mother was sent to reform school when Barbara was two. What for? Was she denied the basics of life, her mother? Made fun of – targeted for social and verbal abuse for being an “unwed” mother? Today they are women who could not get access to the pill, as women who wear white at weddings had the pill, married when they were older, which is only humane. Face facts, not all males and females are vigin when they marry.
I just wonder . . . Sometimes children were solicited by peds, many of whom were married. Often they are treated unlike a couple would have treated their own – a commodity/state funds, yet the mother couldn’t have the basics of life for herself, the child’s father laughing all the way to the bank. She should have know better, rather than he should have kept his pants zipped.
What a cruel crime Barbara committed – that is undeniable.
a papke
Does anyone know if Barbara went into the Gas Chamber bare footed
as others were required to do? Was this always the case? Did
Caryl Chessman have to remove his socks? They roll a green carpet
from the holding cell to the Gas Chamber door. I wonder if this
had anything to do with the Cyanide, & if they had a problem at
some point in the past?
Barbara wore shoes usaully the person being exrcuted has to go without any shoes but Barbara insisted that she wear shoes.Chessman did go bare foot if you see the movie Kill me if you can with Alan Alda he was bare footed when he went into the gas chamber
I have researched this case and I have found several differst stories concerning Barbara Graham’s shoe during her execution. One is that she refused to take them off. One is that she lost at lease one on the way to the chamber. Another a prison guard said she wore house slippers. I believe that if she did wear them to the chamber they were removed as she was strapped into the chair. I remember seeing I want to live many years ago on TV with Susan Hayward and the version on TV she was wearing different shoes and she took them off compared to the version we see the most where Susan Hayward as Barbara Graham refuses to take her shoes off. Other people I have talked to also have noticed the differenced in the same movie. From understanding how a gas chamber execution takes place I doubt if Barbara Graham had her shoes on once she was seated in the chamber.
I think its sad peroid. I mean idk but 3 men was it & one woman yet “she” pistol wiped the old lady. I dont think so. she was the decoy not the mastermind not the one in charge not the one heading it up. theres always a leader-person in charge. i say he hit the woman i think its common since she might have been a messed up woman but i find it hard to believe she was that bad. the things she did back then people do today & we barely blink an eye. a woman struggling to find herself doing anything to survive-sad i say.
Yet your fingers do some walking and not through the yellow pages. The Holyy Bible.
REALITY!! EVERY individual who particpatetes, however slight the participation, in a crime which results in a death, is guilty of first degree murder, and can, and should, be executed. that’s the law, and there is nothing unfair about it, either legally or morally.
if you try to rob a store with a toy gun, and the clerk has a heart attack, you are guilty of first degree murder and deserve execution.
there is nothing difficult to comprehend about such a simpe reality
does anyone know what ever become of her children?
I knew her son Thom (that’s how he spelled his name). He was raised by her friend, Lorraine, in Los Angeles.
We were close friends for years in the late 60’s and 70’s but lost contact when I moved away in the 80’s. I don’t know what he’s doing today but would love to know. He’d be in his mid-50’s now.
Diana
Diana, I would be most interested in anything you would like to share about Barbara Graham’s son. You can email me if you’d like. Just post it if you want my email address.