News-Record.com

The man who broke into attorney Thomas Worth's house in Lindley Park last Sunday, only to be wrestled to the floor and subdued by Worth,
was lucky the incident didn't happen during the first half of the 20tth century.

The accused is free on $4,000 bond. In the old days, he would be in jail without bond facing a possible death sentence.

Until the 1960s, breaking into an occupied home was a capital offense in North Carolina, even if no one was killed or injured during the burglary.

Between 1910, when the state took over executions from the counties, and 1957, ten men died in the state's electric chair and gas chamber for burglary.

They included, Arthor Morris of Raleigh, nicknamed the "Grey Mouse," executed in Sept, 1939, for breaking into the home of a Raleigh physician and stealing 20 cents and a check that he couldn't cash. Gov. Clyde Hoey, in refusing clemency, said Morris had committed 50 other burglaries.

James Marshall, 30, went to his death in 1938 for entering a home in Wayne County and taking a straw hat and a fountain pen. News stories said he had previously kidnapped and robbed a man. That may have led to his getting death for the unrelated burglary.

On Oct. 27, 1939, Willie Richardson of Nash County, died for a burglary in which he stole an empty pocketbook and a pack of cigarettes. Richardson told authorities he didn't know his age but it was guessed at 21 or 22.

Between 1939 and 1957 only two executions took place for burglary. Juries and judges apparently decided burglaries without injuries didn't merit a death sentence.

The last execution for burglary, 30-year-old Ross McAfee of Alexander County, Nov. 22, 1957, involved injury to a 17-year-old girl whose throat was slashed during an unsuccessful rape attempt.

Rape also was a capital crime. Numerous executions for the crime took place through the 1950s in cases where the victim was not killed.

In modern times, the state has limited capital punishment to first-degree murder.

Even if it had been the 1930s, the Lindley Park burglar may have been in line for a life sentence instead of death. He is white. All of those executed for burglary were black.