Ander, Alfred

Born in the parish of Ustero. He served in the regiment of coastal artillery in Vaxholm . After serving, he married and worked as a waiter . Having saved money, Ander opened his own hotel, but his business was not going well. Perhaps the reason for this was alcohol abuse, as well as a bad relationship with his wife. In 1900, Ander was arrested for a series of minor crimes, but escaped from custody. By that time, he already had three convictions for theft ^[1] .

Ander tried to find a way to solve his financial problems and for several weeks watched the Yerell exchange office at Malmtorgsgaten 3 in Stockholm . On January 5, 1910, he carried out a robbery of an office and at the same time beat Victoria Hellsten so hard that she died from the beatings. Anders managed to carry 6 thousand Swedish kronor and a certain amount of foreign currency ^[1] .

The staff of the Temperance Hotel , located near the exchange, informed the police that one of the guests was behaving strangely, and expressed concern that he left the hotel with an oblong package. This guest was Alfred Ander. A large suitcase was found in his room, in which things related to the murder were discovered. Among other things, there was a bloodied cashier’s wallet and most of the stolen money with traces of blood ^[1] .

Police interviewed workers on the ferries of the archipelago, and they identified Ander and told where he was heading. Soon, Ander was arrested at his father's house near Baxholm. During the arrest, an oblong package was found, which was seen by the hotel staff. There was the alleged murder weapon - a steel steelyard ^[1] .

Judgment and Execution

At the trial, Ander stated that he had received money from a foreigner (he did not give his name), whom he met when he stayed at a hotel in Stockholm. He did not admit his guilt. He was sentenced to death. Ander did not appeal to the king for clemency (nevertheless, Ander's father turned to the monarch with this request). King Gustav V refused to pardon the criminal, and Ander became the first criminal in many years to be executed in Sweden. The sentence was carried out on November 23, 1910 at the Longholmen Prison in Stockholm. The execution was carried out using the guillotine, brought earlier from France. This was the only use of the guillotine in Sweden ^[1] .

Ander kept calm during the execution and greeted the executioners command with an exclamation “Good morning, gentlemen!” He wanted to utter the last word, but the executioner unexpectedly refused him this and ordered him to lie down on the bench of the guillotine, which Ander performed without any resistance. The mechanism has been activated. It was the first execution in Sweden in a decade and the last in this country in general.

• The assassination of Yalmar von Syudov

• Anders afrättning (Swedish) (November 23, 1910).
• Forsberg, Joakim. Liv för liv: roman: [] . - Stockholm: Bonnier, 2005 .-- ISBN 91-0-010283-0 .
• Dalman, Gustaf Albert. Sveriges siste skarprättare, AG Dalman: föregångare och förrättningar: [] / Gustaf Albert Dalman, Gustaf Olof Gunne. - Forskaruppl., Utök. - Stockholm: Skandinaviska pressförl., 1934.