Tony Chebatoris

Biography

Tony Chebatoris, born in 1899, came to the United States from Lithuania seeking the promise of work and a safe future for his family, settling in Michigan with the determination common among immigrants of his generation. He took on the difficult labor of the era, hoping to carve out a dignified place in a new land while remaining close to loved ones.

His life ended in Milan, Michigan, following a bank robbery that resulted in a fatal shooting and a controversial execution in 1938, a case that drew attention to the state's use of capital punishment and the complex struggles of desperate men; those who remember him do so with the sober awareness of how a single moment can alter many lives.