Martin Stickles

Martin Stickles (February 7, 1870 – January 25, 1901), known as The Kelso Killer, was an American serial killer who murdered three people in Cowlitz County, Washington, in 1899 and 1900. Convicted of these murders and sentenced to death, he was executed for the killings a year later, despite concerns over a possible mental illness.

Early life Stickles was born on February 7, 1870, in Adams County, Iowa, but was taken to Washington when he was 18 months old when his whole family moved to the state. Despite the local sheriffs' efforts to solve the case and a $300 reward from governor John Rankin Rogers, nobody was convicted. Another man, a weaver, was initially tried for the murder but later released, and it was claimed that Stickles had attended the trial.

Trial, imprisonment, and execution

Stickles was brought in for interrogation about the killings, protesting his innocence until the investigators revealed that they had identified a watch and some keys as belonging to Shanklin.

While awaiting trial for the crimes at the Pierce County jail in December, the prisoners were visited by members of The Salvation Army. After one of the sermons, apparently moved by the preachers' words, Stickles decided to convert to the Christian faith and admitted before the priests that he alone had committed all the murders. Despite the looming possibility of a death sentence, Stickles remained cheerful and claimed that he would be happy with whatever sentence was imposed on him by the court. On the date of his arraignment before the Superior Court, he pleaded not guilty. His lawyers and family claimed that Martin should be treated leniently, as he was of unsound mind and had always been unnatural. After a few minutes, the psychiatrists checked for a pulse, confirming that Stickles was dead, and quickly turned over the body to his family for burial. This execution later served as a main talking point of an article discussing botched executions in Washington State, along with that of wife murderer Richard Quinn in 1910.