Because we executioners are not bereft of sentiment, it is with glad season’s tidings that we remember the veritable rebirth on Christmas Eve of housebreaker John Smith, who was cut down from the Tyburn tree this day in 1705 and … Continue reading
On this date in 1791, a man named William Jones hanged in Newark, N.J. Jones cut an apologetic figure at his public execution, and a confession he signed off in the hours before was widely reprinted in New England newspapers. … Continue reading
On this date in 1822, David Lamphier was hanged for “a deed of unparalleled atrocity” as multiple newspaper reports put it: striking Sadsbury Township constable Samuel W. Smith dead with an ax blow that nearly beheaded the lawman. Smith had … Continue reading
On this date in 1934, “the most successful and painless [execution] ever conducted at the penitentiary” claimed the life of William Cody Kelley in Colorado’s brand-new gas chamber. Nevada had debuted this American contribution to the art of killing 10 … Continue reading
On this date in 1788, two highwaymen were hanged at Boston Neck: Archibald Taylor, and Joseph Taylor.* According to a letter later published purporting to be from that Joseph Taylor, however, he and a sympathetic doctor actually engineered one of … Continue reading
I know the vicinity of our old Dutch settlements to have been very subject to marvelous events and appearances. Indeed, I have heard many stranger stories than this … -Washington Irving, “Rip Van Winkle” On this date in 1903, an“unusual … Continue reading
On this date in 1799, Thomas Nash was hanged in Jamaica for the bloody mutiny on the HMS Hermione. Before there was Hermione Granger, there was the HMS Hermione. Painting by Thomas Whitcombe. The Admiralty’s most notorious mutiny this side … Continue reading
The popular crime chronicle The Newgate Calendar is a rich broth these pages dare indulge but sparingly. Well, not too sparingly. Though far less concerned with journalistic precision than with sermonizing — and, in their totality, largely repetitive templates of … Continue reading
On this date in 1740, five criminals were hanged at Tyburn. Sixteen-year-old William Duell was among them. He was hanged — but he did not die. As recounted in The Newgate Calendar: WILLIAM DUELL was convicted of occasioning the death … Continue reading