1697: Godfrey McCulloch, the last man to die on the maiden
Add comment March 26th, 2009 Headsman
On this date in 1697, Godfrey McCulloch was beheaded for murder.
A lesser Scotch noble, McCulloch was heir to a family that had seen better times. His forebears had built and laid their [attached] heads at cozy Cardoness Castle, but hard times had seen the Gordon clan foreclose a bum McCulloch mortgage, and that put the families at pistols drawn.*
A minor confrontation between Godfrey McCulloch and Sir William Gordon saw McCulloch plant in Gordon’s leg a bullet wound that festered into a fatal infection. McCulloch fled to the continent, but eventually — there’s no place like home — returned, and was recognized in Edinburgh.
One boring scaffold speech later, and that was that — unless you credit the legend that his headless body sprang up and ran 100 yards.
McCulloch was beheaded on the Maiden, a guillotine precursor that automated the chopping process.
He seems to have the distinction of being the last person so executed.
* McCulloch, who was also a member of the Scottish Parliament, held a sheriff’s commission in Wigton. Although anti-Covenanter, he washed his hands of the Wigtown martyrs case.
Also On This Date
Possibly Related Executions
- 1796: Mastro Titta’s first execution of many
- 1630: John Billington, signer of the Mayflower Compact
- 1679: The hot-blooded Lady Christian Nimmo
Entry Filed under: 17th Century, Beheaded, Capital Punishment, Common Criminals, Crime, Death Penalty, Execution, History, Maiden, Milestones, Murder, Nobility, Politicians, Public Executions, Scotland
Tags: 1690s, 1697, cardoness castle, death tech, edinburgh, godfrey mcculloch, march 26
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