Panzram's run-ins with the law started in 1899, at age 8, when he was charged in juvenile court with being drunk and disorderly, and in 1903 at age 12, when he was arrested and jailed for being drunk and "incorrigible." From 1903 to 1906 he was committed to the Minnesota Training facility. In January 1906, Panzram was paroled from Red Wing Training School, where he had been detained after stealing money from his mother's pocketbook.[1][2] By his early teens Panzram exhibited alcoholism and had a lengthy criminal rap sheet, mostly for burglary and robbery offenses.
Panzram was born on June 28, 1892, in East Grand Forks, Minnesota the son of Johann Gottlieb Panzram 1843-1926 and Matilda. He had five other siblings who did not become thieves, but Carl was stealing since he was six years old.[3]
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In 1907 while drunk he enlisted in the US Army; there he was courtmartiled for stealing $88.24 worth of supplies and sentenced to serve 3 years at Fort Leavenworth Military Prison from 1908 to 1910 at Hard Labor; the Secretary of War William Howard Taft confirmed his sentence.. He later claimed that before he went to prison hed been a preety rotten Yegg; afterward "any goodness left in him was smashed out by the Prison sentence.
In 1913, going by the alias "Jack Allen", he was arrested in The Dalles, Oregon for highway robbery, assault and sodomy, breaking out of jail after two months. He was arrested again in Harrison, Idaho under the alias "Jeff Davis", but escaped from county jail. On April 7, 1913 under the alias "Jeff Davis," Panzram was arrested in Malta, Montana: "A fellow giving his name as Jeff Davis was arrested Monday morning for disorderly conduct and placed in the county jail. During the day information came from Chinook that he was wanted there for breaking into a dentist's office and stealing a ladies fur lined coat and a tube of gold. A Chinook officer came after Jeff Tuesday. The coat in question was sold in Malta for $5.00 and by the way it looks like the party bought $5.00 worth of experience instead of coat."[4] In Chinook, Montana by the alias "Jefferson Davis", he was sentenced to one year in prison for burglary, to be served at the Montana State Prison. On April 27, 1913, Panzram, under his "Jefferson Davis" alias, was admitted to the Montana State Prison at Deer Lodge, Montana with an occupation listed as "waiter and teamster". He met Jimmie Benson and planned an escape; however Benson was transfered. Panzram escaped on November 13 1913. "Jeff Davis who was arrested here some time ago for robbing a dentist office in Chinook and sent up to the pen has made good his get-a-way from that institution. He was a trusty and working on road work."[5] Within a week, he was arrested for burglary in Three Forks, giving his name as "Jeff Rhoades". He was incarcerated at Deer Lodge for an additional year.
In 1915 Under the name "Jeff Baldwin", Panzram was sentenced to seven years in prison, to be served at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, where he was taken on June 24, 1915. Fifty-year-old WardenHarry Minto believed in harsh treatment of inmates, including beatings and isolation, among other disciplinary measures. Panzram stated that he swore he "would never do that seven years and I defied the warden and all his officers to make me."[6] Later that year, Panzram helped fellow inmate Otto Hooker escape. While attempting to evade recapture, Hooker killed Minto September 27, 1915. This event marked Panzram's first known involvement in a murder, as an accessory before the fact.[6](Hooker was mortally wounded.) In his prison record, which noted his two aliases, "Jefferson Davis" and "Jeff Rhodes", Panzram falsely gave his age as 30, and his place of birth as Alabama. His only truthful statement was when he stated his occupation as "thief". On November 5, 1916 PAnzram and another convict James Curtis for using vile language and revolting against discipline were given a hosing by Warden James Minto[7]Minto was asked to resign November 14, 1916[8]On December 14, 1916 Panzram and Curtis sawed their way through theie cell doors and were scarping their way through the brick wall when they were recaptured[9]
Panzram was disciplined several times while at Salem, including sixty-one days in solitary confinement, before escaping on September 18, 1917. A reward of $50.00 was offered for his recapture.[10] After two shootouts, in which he attempted to shoot Chief Deputy Sheriff Joseph Frum, Panzram was recaptured and returned to the prison. On May 12, 1918, he escaped again by sawing through the bars of his cell[11], catching a freight train heading east. He began going by the name "John O'Leary" and shaved off his mustache to change his appearance. Panzram would never return to the Pacific Northwest.
On September 16, 1920, he burglarized the Taft Mansion in New Haven, Connecticut, a residence of William Howard Taft, former U.S. President. Panzram specifically targeted the mansion out of an animus he had been holding against Taft since his incarceration at Fort Leavenworth. He stole a large amount of jewellery and bonds,[fn 1] as well as Taft's Colt M1911.45 caliberhandgun.[13]Akista yachtUsing Taft's stolen money, Panzram bought a small sailing yacht, the Akista, and embarked on an eight-year-long murder spree which spanned several countries and involved multiple victims. Sailing south to New York City, at City Island, Bronx, for three months Panzram lured sailors away from port bars onto the yacht, making them drunk, raping them, murdering with Taft's stolen pistol, then dumping their bodies near Execution Rocks Light in Long Island Sound. Panzram later claimed to have killed ten men in this manner.[14] The sailor murders ended only after Akista ran aground and sank near Atlantic City, New Jersey, during which his last two potential victims escaped to parts unknown.[15] On October 26, Panzram was arrested in Stamford, Connecticut, for burglary and possession of a loaded handgun (a .44 revolver)[2] In 1921, he served six months in jail in Bridgeport, Connecticut.[16] In his own words "..'Quotes by Panzram:
Back in New York in the summer of 1920 I think - June or July but maybe August. Five days after I got back broke on the Manchuria I went up to New Haven, Connecticut. There I robbed the home of someone in that place. I got about $40,000 worth of jewelry and some Liberty Bonds. They were signed and registered with the name W.H. Taft and among the jewelry was a watch with his name on it, presented to him by some congress or some senate while he was the Governor General of the Philippine Islands. So I know it was the same man who had given me my three years in the U.S. Military Prison when he was Secretary of War about 1906. Out of this robbery I got about $3,000 in cash and kept some of the stuff, including a .45 Colt Automatic. With that money I bought a yacht - the Akista. Her initials and registry numbers were K.N.B.C., 107,296.
On my yacht I had quarters for five people but I was alone for a while. Then I figured it would be a good plan to hire a few sailors to work for me, get them out to my yacht, get them drunk, commit sodomy on them, rob them and then kill them. This I done. Every day or two I would get plenty of booze by robbing other yachts there. The Barbara H was one of them. I robbed her and a dozen or so others around there. I was hitting the booze pretty hard myself at that time. Every day or two I would go to New York and hang around 25 South Street and size up the sailors. Whenever I saw a couple who were about my size and seemed to have money, I would hire them to work on my yacht. I would always promise a big pay and easy work.
What they got was something else. I would take them and all their clothes and gear out to my yacht at City Island. There we would wine and dine and when they were drunk enough they would go to bed. When they were asleep I would get my .45 Colt Army Automatic, this I stole from Mr. Taft's home, and blow their brains out. Then I would take a rope and tie a rock on them and put them into my rowboat, row out in the main channel about one mile and drop 'em overboard. They are there yet, ten of 'em. I worked that racket about three weeks. My boat was full of stolen stuff, and the people at City Island were beginning to look queer at me so the next two sailors I hired I kept alive and at work. One was named Delaney and the other was Goodman or Goodwin.
The three of us on my boat pulled out one day and went as far as Graves End Bay, New York, where I robbed another yacht. They knew it but I figured on killing them both in a day or two. But we only got as far down the coast as Atlantic City, New Jersey, where my yacht was wrecked, with everything on her lost. The three of us got ashore alive. The other two I paid off and where they went I don't know or care. I was sick at that time and a Dr. Charles McGivern took care of me there at his home for a week or so. Him I gave a few pieces of jewelry of Old Man Taft's. I also gave him the .45 Colt Automatic that I done the killing with. I left his home and went back to Connecticut looking for another $40,000, but I got six months in the can at Bridgeport, Connecticut, instead for burglary. I done that six months and while there I borrowed $100 from my doctor, Charles McGivern. When I got out of the can I went to Philadelphia. There I got my Colt .45 back from the doctor.[*]
Then I joined the Flying Squadron of the Seamen's Union who were on strike at that time. A few days later I got into a gun battle with some scab sailors and the cops. The cops won. I got pinched and held for the grand jury under the charges of aggravated assault and inciting to riot. I got out on bail and immediately jumped it. I went to Norfolk, Virginia, got a ship to Europe and robbed and jumped her when I got there.
From Europe I went down to Matadi in the Belgian Congo, Africa. From there I went to Luanda, Angola, Portuguese West Africa. There I went to work for the Sinclair Oil Company,.." {PAnzram claimed to have burned a oil rig out of spitefulness and to have killed a boy and later six men he hired as rowers in Africa)
[*] Partial Confirmation of Panzram account:October 3, 1920 "John O'Leary" captain of yacht Akiska along with John Delaney and J. Gilmore had lashed themsleves to the yacht capstan after the Akiska foundered and turned over on its side on the Brigantien Shoals at Atlantic City NJ trying to make shelter in Absecon Inlet; on Octber 6, 1920 they were rescued by Captain Henry Brown of a fishing smack; O'Leary was in Hospital from Shock and exposure.[17]
In 1923...An alert went out for "Captain John O'Leary". On June 29, "O'Leary" was arrested in Nyack.On July 9, Panzram tried to escape from jail. He later conned his lawyer by giving him ownership of a stolen boat in return for bail money. He then skipped bail, and the boat was confiscated by government agents.On August 24, he found work aboard the USS Grant, a troopship bound for China, but was discharged before it left after getting drunk and getting into a fight with the soldiers. On August 26, "O'Leary" was arrested in Larchmont, New York, after breaking into a train depot. Three days later, on August 29, "O'Leary" was cleared as a suspect in the stabbing death of Dorothy Kaufman of Greenburgh, committed a month prior.[18]
He was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for the break-in. While in county jail, under his alias of "O'Leary" he confessed to the alias "Jeff Baldwin", and that he was wanted in Oregon for the murder of Minto (Oregon authorities reported he was still wanted to serve 14 years of his sentence there). As there was a offer of $500.00 for his capture he tried to claim the reward on himself for himself![19]. After first being imprisoned in Sing Sing Prison, in October, Panzram was imprisoned at Clinton Prison in Dannemora as Inmate #75182. 174.98.170.14 (talk) 13:20, 22 June 2025 (UTC)Reply
↑"Panzam Will Be Paroled". The Evening Times. Grand Forks, North Dakota: Published online at chroniclingamerica.loc.gov Library of Congress. January 26, 1906. Archived from the original on April 1, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
↑"Yacht Sinks Off Absecon". Evening public ledger. [volume],NIGHT EXTRA,. Philadelphia: online at chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, Library of Congress. October 07, 1920,. p.6,. Retrieved June 21, 2025.{{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
↑"Eliminate Ex-Convict from Murder Probe". The Evening Star. Washington, DC: republished online at chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, Library of Congress. August 30, 1923. p.23. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
