Johan Alfred Ander - Trial and Execution

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 for almost ten years. The execution took place at Långholmen Prison 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 "Good morning, gentlemen!" He also wanted to say a few last words about his views on death, but was ignored (or not heard) by the executioner. Shortly thereafter, Ander was forced onto the guillotine, which did its work flawlessly as the rope was pulled and his head fell into the bucket fastened onto the guillotine. It was the first execution in Sweden for more than a decade, and the last ever to be carried out.

His body was donated to science. Doctors could conclude that he at the time of death suffered from tuberculosis, and also found a large chunk of porcelain in his stomach, likely from an in-prison suicide attempt prior to the execution.

The executioner was Albert Gustaf Dahlman, who thus became Sweden's last official executioner. His death in 1920 was considered levying the pressure to abolish capital punishment in Sweden, which took place the following year. Ander subsequently became the last person executed in Sweden, although a further number (including terrorist Anton Nilson and child murderer Hilda Nilsson; both reprieved) were sentenced to death. The last woman to have been executed in Sweden was Anna Månsdotter, beheaded by manual blade in 1890, also by Albert Gustav Dahlman.