1845: Not William Weaver, defended by Abraham Lincoln
June 27th, 2011 Headsman
This date in 1845 was the appointed hanging of William Weaver, the first convicted murderer in Champaign County, Illinois.
While drunk, Weaver shot to death one David Hiltibrau and despite the able representation of one Abraham Lincoln was speedily convicted. (pdf)
Where the rail splitter failed, fortune prevailed.
“A few days — or nights rather — before that set for his execution,” we read,
a friendly auger passed to him afforded the means of escape. Just then delays were dangerous to poor drunken Bill Weaver, for Sheriff Lewis had the rope and scaffold ready, so he did not await a farewell word from friends, but sped away to the North, as the winds go. At that time the tangled forests and the untramped prairies afforded unexcelled means for seclusion and escape, and the condemned man, once a mile from town, might well bid farewell to every fear of being caught and hanged, as he doubtless did. Years afterward Weaver was heard from in far Northern Wisconsin, a useful, law-abiding citizen. No effort was ever made to bring him back from his delicious exile.
On this day..
- 1558: Toqui Caupolicán - 2020
- 1497: Nicholas II of Niemodlin - 2019
- 1766: Don Francis de Sallesar y Corvetto - 2018
- 1733: Champion and Valentine, slaves - 2017
- 1844: Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, lynched - 2016
- 1948: Tessie Hutchinson, Lottery winner - 2015
- 1622: Samuel Korecki, defeated magnate - 2014
- 1794: Simon-Nicholas Henri Linguet, who defended Nero - 2013
- 1740: Artemy Volynsky - 2012
- 1497: Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank, leaders of the Cornish Rebellion - 2010
- 1777: William Dodd, mind wonderfully concentrated - 2009
- 1950: Milada Horáková, democrat and feminist - 2008
Entry Filed under: 19th Century,Capital Punishment,Common Criminals,Crime,Death Penalty,Escapes,Execution,Hanged,History,Illinois,Milestones,Murder,Not Executed,Notable Participants,Public Executions,USA
Tags: 1840s, 1845, abraham lincoln, june 27, william weaver
