Toni Jo Henry

Toni Jo Henry (January 3, 1916 - November 28, 1942), (née Annie Beatrice McQuiston), was the only woman ever to be executed in Louisiana's electric chair. Married to Claude 'Cowboy' Henry, she decided to break her husband out of jail where he was serving a fifty-year sentence in the Texas State Penitentiary for murder. Together with Harold Burks, she took a ride with Joseph P. Calloway, whom they then robbed and murdered. Toni Jo Henry was convicted and sentenced to death, the After three trials, she was executed by electrocution on November 28, 1942. Her case generated several popular books and films including A Savage Wisdom and Stone Justice.

Born near Shreveport, Louisiana, Henry was the third of five children. Her mother died of tuberculosis when Henry was six years of age. Henry worked in a macaroni factory at thirteen and thereafter in a local brothel as a prostitute. She became a regular user of alcohol, marijuana, heroin, and cocaine.

In 1939, she met Claude Henry when she was working as a waitress in Austin Texas. A down-on-his-luck prize fighter, Cowboy, as he was known, fell in love with the young prostitute. Married on November 25, 1939, the couple honeymooned in southern California. During this time, Henry was able to wean his wife off her various drug addictions. Upon returning from California, Claude Henry was arrested for the murder of a Texas man prior to their marriage. He was found guilty in January 1940 and sentenced to fifty years in the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville.

Toni Jo then began contemplating plans to break her husband out of Huntsville Prison. She and accomplice Harold 'Arkie' Burks devised a plan to rob a bank, in hopes of securing money to aid in breaking Claude Henry out of jail. Joseph P. Calloway was delivering a Ford Coupe to a friend when he happened upon Toni Jo and Arkie Burks. Unaware of their plan, he offered to give the two a ride.

As they drove past Jennings, Louisiana, Toni Jo and Arkie robbed Calloway at gunpoint. They proceeded to lock him in the trunk of his car and drive down a country road. The duo planned to use the Ford as a getaway vehicle; however, they soon decided to pull the car over near a small paddock. Calloway was ordered out of the car and told to undress. He was then ushered behind a haystack, told to kneel, and say his prayers. Calloway was shot once in the head with a .32 caliber revolver and died at the scene.

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