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ksdkjlf t1_jda4vb0 wrote

Unfortunately this is BS. The term is attested nearly 40 years before Zangara's sentencing. Two earlier attestations from the OED:

1894 Rocky Mountain News (Denver). 12 Mar. 3. " Thomas Jordan, who occupies a cell in the death row at Canon City Penitentiary."

1902 Salt Lake Tribune. 23 June. "Six men now occupy cells in ‘death row’ at the [Utah] penitentiary."

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