Most of us look forward to an extra hour of sleep after daylight saving time—but for one Chicago gangster sentenced to the gallows in 1921, it was an extra hour of life he aimed to enjoy.
In the fall of 1920, the leader of a violent gang, Salvatore “Sam” Cardinella, also known as Il Diavolo (The Devil), was convicted of murdering a barkeeper named Andrew Bowman, the Chicago Tribune reports. That same year, Chicago City Council passed a daylight saving ordinance saying the city's clocks must adhere to the time change.
Cardinella’s gang had a hand in at least 20 murders, 100 holdups and 150 burglaries, the newspaper reports.
Sentenced to death by hanging on April 15, 1921, Cardinella came up with one last ditch effort to save his neck after multiple failed attempts by his cronies.
Cardinella, according to the New York Times at the time, swayed authorities to give him that extra hour due to the daylight saving time ordinance--thus keeping him from the hangman's rope a little while longer.
“... I was sentenced before the time was changed,” he reportedly said. “This rearrangement deprives me of an hour of life. That won't mean anything after I'm dead, but will mean a lot Friday morning. The Governor can change his mind in that time.”
He got his hour, but was then hanged at 10:26 a.m. on April 15, the paper reports.
