Johan Alfred Andersson Ander (27 November 1873 – 23 November 1910) was a convicted Swedish murderer and the last person to be
executed in Sweden.
The only person to be executed in Sweden following the instatement of the
guillotine, he remains the only person executed by this means in Swedish history (before 1907, capital punishment was executed through manual beheading).
Early life
Born in
Ljusterö
Ljusterö is an island in Sweden.
It is in the northern part of the Stockholm archipelago in Österåker Municipality, Stockholm County. It is approximately 65 kilometers north of central Stockholm.
With an area of 62.05 km², it is the ...
, Ander performed his military service duties from 1893 to 1894 at the
Vaxholm Artillery Corps
Vaxholm Artillery Corps ( sv, Vaxholms artillerikår) was an artillery unit of the Swedish Army which operated between 1889 and 1901. The unit was based in Vaxholm in Uppland.
History
Vaxholm Artillery Corps, the first fortress artillery corps i ...
of
Vaxholm. When his military service was over he got married and tried to make a living as a waiter and hotel owner. Most of the businesses failed however (both in
Strängnäs in 1898 and in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
in 1903). There have been claims that Ander's excessive drinking and mistreatment of his wife were, at least partially, the reasons for the economic failures. In 1900, he was imprisoned for a few small crimes but managed to escape. In all, by the time of his final conviction, he had been sentenced three times for theft (''tredje resan stöld''). In 1909, the couple moved back to Ander's parents' house in
Karlsudd.
The robbery and arrest
Ander sought a way to find a solution to his money problems, and for weeks he had been seen observing an exchange agency, ''Gerells Växelkontor'' on Malmtorgsgatan 3 in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
. On 5 January 1910, he robbed the agency and beat the clerk, Victoria Hellsten, so severely that she died. He managed to steal 6,000
Swedish kronor
The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the official currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it b ...
in Swedish and foreign notes at the agency (nearly 200,000 SEK in 2010 equivalent).
Staff at a hotel named ''Temperance'', which was located near the exchange agency, reported to the police that one of their guests had been behaving in a very strange and anxious manner, and that this guest had left the hotel with an oblong package. The guest turned out to be Alfred Ander. A large suitcase found in his hotel room contained numerous items that could be connected to the murder, among them the murdered clerk's wallet as well as most of the stolen money, partially blood-stained.
Ander was subsequently arrested during nighttime near
Vaxholm, in his father's house, after some inquiries to workers on the
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
ferries, who recognized Ander and remembered where he went. The oblong package which had been observed by hotel staff was also found during the arrest and contained the apparent murder weapon, a
steelyard balance.
Trial and execution
During the trial, Ander claimed that he had received the money from a foreign (and unknown) man, whom he had met during his stay at a hotel in Stockholm. He never admitted to the crime, but was sentenced to death by all court instances, and he never appealed to the king to be reprieved (however, an application for clemency was made by his father). Clemency was refused by king
Gustaf V, thus making Ander the first person to be executed in Sweden in almost ten years. The execution took place at
Långholmen Prison
Långholmen Prison, officially Långholmen Central Prison ( sv, Långholmens centralfängelse), was historically one of the largest prison facilities in Sweden with more than 500 cells, located on the island of Långholmen in Stockholm. It was b ...
in Stockholm on 23 November 1910 by a new
guillotine imported from France, the only instance in which it was used in Sweden.
Ander appeared mostly calm during the execution, even greeting the execution team with "God morgon, mina herrar!" ''("Good morning, gentlemen!")'' He also asked to say a few last words, but was, surprisingly, denied to do so by the executioner. Shortly thereafter, Ander was ordered to lie down on the guillotine, to which he complied without any need for force. The rope was then pulled. Ander reportedly shuddered just before his head fell into the zinc bucket fastened onto the guillotine. It was the first execution in Sweden in more than a decade, and the last ever to be carried out.
Ander's body was donated to science. Doctors concluded that, at the time of his death, he suffered from
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
, and they also found a large chunk of
porcelain
Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
in his stomach, likely from an in-prison
suicide attempt
A suicide attempt is an attempt to die by suicide that results in survival. It may be referred to as a "failed" or "unsuccessful" suicide attempt, though these terms are discouraged by mental health professionals for implying that a suicide res ...
prior to the execution.
The
executioner was
Albert Gustaf Dahlman
Albert Gustaf Dahlman (born Anders Gustaf Dalman; 17 February 1848 – 30 July 1920) was a Swedish executioner. He was the last executioner in Sweden, as well as the last to carry out capital punishment in Sweden (of Alfred Ander in 1910), the ...
, thus the last official executioner to carry out his duties. His death in 1920 was considered levying the pressure to abolish
capital punishment in Sweden
Capital punishment in Sweden was last used in 1910, though it remained a legal sentence for at least some crimes until 1973. It is now outlawed by the Swedish Constitution, which states that capital punishment, corporal punishment, and torture ar ...
, which took place the following year. A further 10 to 15 people were sentenced to death (but either committed suicide or were reprieved; the most notorious being
Hilda Nilsson
Hilda Nilsson (24 May 1876 – 10 August 1917) was a Swedish serial killer from Helsingborg who became known as "the angel maker on Bruks Street". She is one of Sweden's most notorious female serial killers.
In 1917, she was imprisoned for murd ...
in 1917 and
Mohammed Beck Hadjetlaché
Mohammed Beck Hadjetlaché (20 May 1868, he also sometimes stated 1870 or 1872, Istanbul - 4 November 1929, Stockholm) was a Circassian journalist, writer, MI6 ( SIS) and cheka agent. Hadjetlaché used many assumed identities, but his real name ...
in 1920, respectively). The last woman to have been executed in Sweden was
Anna Månsdotter
Anna may refer to:
People Surname and given name
* Anna (name)
Mononym
* Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke
* Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773)
* Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century)
* Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221) ...
,
beheaded
Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...
by manual blade in 1890, also by Albert Gustav Dahlman.
See also
*
Capital punishment in Sweden
Capital punishment in Sweden was last used in 1910, though it remained a legal sentence for at least some crimes until 1973. It is now outlawed by the Swedish Constitution, which states that capital punishment, corporal punishment, and torture ar ...
*
Historical murders and executions in Stockholm
Murders and executions in Stockholm, Sweden have been documented since the 1280s, when King Magnus Ladulås ordered the execution of three magnates of the Privy Council, who had been accused of several "traitorous acts against the throne". The cit ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ander, Johan Alfred
1873 births
1910 deaths
People executed for murder
Executed Swedish people
People executed by Sweden by guillotine
20th-century executions by Sweden
Swedish people convicted of murder
People convicted of murder by Sweden