On this date in 1858, a slave named Lucy was hanged in Galveston for killing her mistress.
The innkeeper Maria Dougherty was chagrined in 1857 when her slave voiced disgruntlement by torching her Columbia Hotel. (The fire was detected in time and put out.) So, she stacked additional punishments on the dissatisfied Lucy, who in her turn escalated her revenge. In the first days of the new year, Mrs. Dougherty disappeared — next seen several days onward afloat in a cistern, skull mangled by a furious bludgeon.
“Yes, I killed her, and I would do it again!” Lucy allegedly exulted.
On this day..
- 2020: Nathaniel Woods, #SaveNate
- 1749: Fontauban, spy
- 1291: Sa'ad al-Dawla, grand vizier
- 1733: Sarah Malcolm, murderer, and seven men
- 1684: John Dick, Covenanter
- 1687: The first of the Martyrs of Eperjes
- 1780: Colonel Hamilton Ballendine, if that was his real name
- 1945: Lena Baker
- 1413: Francesco Baldovino, to enjoy the emoluments of office
- 1986: Mamman Jiya Vatsa, warrior-poet
- 1716: 100 Sikhs per day for a week
- 1644: Ferrante Pallavicino, more caustic than elusive