On the day of his execution, he published a written confession admitting to 23 total murders across the United States and Canada, providing details for eight of them, including one for which he had been suspected previously but never charged.

[2] His mother remarried when he was still young, and due to the frequent arguments between her and his stepfather, he fled for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at age nine, where he was later picked up by juvenile authorities for stealing bread.

[2] Sometime during his teenage years or early adulthood, he moved to Franklin, Washington and married a Native American woman from Arlee, Montana, with whom he had two children, but broke off contact with them for unclear reasons.

There, he worked alongside 39-year-old Louis Brown, a mixed-race ex-con from Herington, Kansas, who had convictions for vandalism and grand larceny in Kalamazoo, Michigan and Fort Madison, Iowa.

[10] On July 28, the real Coleman was found to be hiding at a freight train car in Drummond, was immediately arrested and brought back to Missoula to face charges.

[8] The latter, whose attitude was described as carefree and jovial, readily admitted that he had killed Mrs. Pearson and announced his intention to plead guilty to her murder as fast as possible.

[11] Contemporary media noted that Coleman appeared to be charming and well-spoken, and to even have a rudimentary understanding of court procedure worked based on his actions at preliminary hearings, but was also described as cocky and boastful.

[14] While examining one of the bags, determined to be Coleman's, police found numerous advertisements for dice rolling and letters he had written to women from across the country.

[15] On July 31, Brown suddenly amended his statement, claiming that he had not seen Coleman murder Mrs. Pearson, but was sure that he had killed both after he had left the house and his clothes had been bloodied.

[23] In that same time interview, he alluded that he could have easily escaped if he had accepted a ride from some white friends in Glendive, and could have fled to Mississippi, where he believed it was too dangerous for authorities to capture black fugitives.

[31] And in response to the recent ruling, Coleman told in an interview with a reporter from Missoulian that he held no hard feelings towards anybody associated with his case, and that he was fully aware and deserving of the sentence he had been handed down.

[33] In response to a reporter describing him as flippant and unremorseful the day prior to his hanging, Coleman wrote a letter to the Missoulian, saying that this was an untrue characteristic, and that he felt remorse for what he had done, publicly asking for forgiveness from both God and the citizens of Montana.

[35] Coleman, who had previously refused religious counsel, had been baptized a Catholic in prison, and when brought before the gallows, he again expressed that he was sorry for what he had done and that he was ready to face judgment from God.

[36] He was hanged at the Missoula County Jail on September 10, 1943, at exactly 7:07 AM, making this one of the fastest capital punishment cases in the state's history, lasting 47 days from the murder itself to the date of his execution.