1863: James Murphy, after a reunion
Add comment November 6th, 2015 Headsman
On November 6, 1863, Old Geelong Gaol (op. cit.) hosted the hanging of James Murphy.
This horse thief, having been put to some light piece of penal servitude cleaning up the Warrnambool courthouse, noticed his minder kneeling over the fireplace and bashed that constable’s head with a three-point mason’s hammer.
Murphy made good his escape … for two days. He paid for those meager hours of harrowed liberty with his neck: a remarkable occasion, for it was noted that
[t]he executioner was a man sent down from Melbourne for the purpose, and a rather affecting scene took place when he was first introduced to his victim. It appeared the condemned man and he had been intimate friends in Tasmania, and as soon as he recognised him the tears began to roll down at the idea of his having to carry out the grim sentence of the law upon his old mate. He soon recovered his composure, however, and got through the remainder of his thankless office creditably.
The death mask taken from Murphy is still exhibited, and a display at the Old Gaol purports to re-create Murphy’s hanging. (His was the first of only two executions to take place within the gaol’s walls.)
On this day..
- 1837: Luis Candelas, urban bandit - 2020
- 1941: Shura Chekalin, Hero of the Soviet Union - 2019
- 1938: Kasym Tynystanov, Kyrgyz intellectual - 2018
- 1717: Three spared en route to Tyburn, thanks to Jack Ketch's debts - 2017
- 1922: Ali Kemal - 2016
- 1964: Vuyisile Mini, Zinakile Mkaba and Wilson Khayingo - 2014
- 1918: Roman Malinovsky, tinker, tailor, soldier, spy - 2013
- 1944: Boy Ecury, Aruban Dutch Resistance hero - 2012
- 1600: Ishida Mitsunari, Konishi Yukinaga and Ankokuji Ekei for the Tokugawa Shogunate - 2011
- 1793: Philippe Egalite, hoisted on his own petard - 2010
- 2003: Four for the oil of Chad - 2009
- 1730: Hans Hermann von Katte, Frederick the Great's lover - 2008
- 1914: Carl Hans Lody - 2007
Entry Filed under: 19th Century,Australia,Capital Punishment,Common Criminals,Crime,Death Penalty,Execution,Hanged,Murder
Tags: 1860s, 1863, geelong, james murphy, november 6, old geelong gaol, prison break, warrnambool
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