Byron E. King Byron E. King was born on May 4, 1910 a white male who went to the Missouri Penitentiary for killing a taxi driver who goes by the name George Speer in St. Louis his motive was to rob the 68 year old of his money which was only $3.25 on January 17th, 1936 Speer told them that it was King when he was on his deathbed. He is one out of 40 people who was killed in the gas chamber he died with Hydrocyanic acid gas poison. The night that it happen before he was executed at 1:28 a.m., King smoked cigarettes and chatted with the prison staff, He was dead seven minutes later. He was 27 years old when he died on November 4th, 1938. No one else was in the the gas chamber with him as he died. Life before crime he was a bricklayer and lived