Irene Schroeder (February 17, 1909 – February 23, 1931) was an American criminal who became the first woman to be electrocuted in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and the fourth woman to be executed by electrocution in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. She was given several nicknames by the press, including "Trigger Woman," "Iron Irene," "Irene of the six-shooters," "animal woman", "the blonde tiger," "the blonde bandit," and "Tiger Girl."Charles A. Earley, "Tiger Girl"—The Blonde Whose Gun Spat Death!,
''True Detective Mysteries,''
September 1930) p. 40ff.

Early life

Schroeder (née Crawford) was born in 1909 in

Benwood, West Virginia Benwood is a city in Marshall County, West Virginia, United States, along the Ohio River. It is part of the Wheeling, West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,269 at the 2020 census. Benwood was chartered in 1853 and i ...

. At the age of 15, she married Homer Shrader, and they had a son, Donnie, a year later. She soon left Homer and became a waitress in

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...

. There, she met Walter Glenn Dague, who became her lover.

Shootout in Butler, Pennsylvania

On December 27, 1929, she and Dague as well as her older brother, Tom Crawford, were involved in a grocery store robbery in

Butler, Pennsylvania Butler is a city and the county seat of Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located north of Pittsburgh and is part of the Greater Pittsburgh region. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 13,502. History Butler was na ...

. While escaping the scene of the crime, they were stopped by two police officers, Brady Paul and Ernest Moore. A shootout ensued. Paul was fatally shot, and Moore was wounded. Shrader, Crawford, and Dague all escaped and went into hiding, leaving Irene's four-year-old son, who had been in the car at the time, with a family member. Irene changed the spelling of her name to Schroeder to muddy the trail that the police were following. Donnie was soon interviewed by the police, and his testimony was later used to help convict his mother. He stated:

"I saw my mama shoot a cop. Uncle Tom shot another one in the head. He shot right through the windshield."

Arrest and trial

Tom Crawford was never arrested; the police believed that he was killed in a shootout after a robbery in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. After a long manhunt, Dague and Schroeder were both apprehended after a shootout in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. They were tried in Pennsylvania and sentenced to death by electrocution. Schroeder was the first female to be executed in such a way in Pennsylvania. Schroeder was electrocuted on February 23, 1931 at 7:05 a.m., wearing "a gray dress of imitation silk with white collars and cuffs, beige silk stockings and black satin slippers" to her death. Her executioner remarked that she seemed particularly "composed and fearless." Her parting words to her six-year-old son, Donnie were "I am going to die, my boy, but I am not afraid. Be a good boy and don't be afraid." Donnie was heard to remark, "I'll bet my mom would make an awful nice angel." Dague was executed the same day.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schroeder, Irene 1909 births 1931 deaths American robbers Executed American women People executed by Pennsylvania by electric chair 20th-century executions by Pennsylvania People convicted of murder by Pennsylvania American female murderers American people executed for murdering police officers People from Benwood, West Virginia 20th-century executions of American people Executed people from West Virginia