1865: Henry Wilson, shy subject
Add comment December 22nd, 2018 Robert Elder
(Thanks to Robert Elder of Last Words of the Executed — the blog, and the book — for the guest post. This post originally appeared on the Last Words blog. Fans of this here site are highly likely to enjoy following Elder’s own pithy, almanac-style collection of last words on the scaffold. -ed.)
“I had made a request not to have my photograph taken, for fear my friends would recognize me. Somebody else made a request that it should be taken, and Chase [the sheriff] paid more attention to them than to me, and let them try to take it as I came out. You can see what kind of man this Chase is, and if I had a chance I would take his photograph d—-d quick. I don’t think they got a good one. So my friends will not know it. Perhaps my photograph will be the means of finding out who I am, but I doubt it d—-dly. I have nothing more to say, and you may go on as soon as you please, for it is no consolation to me to be kept standing here in the cold.”
— Henry Wilson, convicted of murder, hanging, New York.
Executed December 22, 1865 A career burglar, Wilson was executed for slaying of Henry DeVoe, whose home he had been robbing. Wilson admitted to killing two other New Yorkers — Burr Burton in Syracuse and Mrs. Lewis in Lancaster — and told police he was the man wanted for a host of unsolved crimes. He went to the gallows three days before Christmas. A reporter for the Rochester Democrat censored Wilson’s profanities, which appear to be derivations of damn.
On this day..
- 1609: Captain John Harris, Captain John Jennings, and 15 other pirates at Wapping - 2019
- 1865: Francis Johnson (Francis Harper), lynch survivor - 2017
- 1651: Arnold Johan Messenius and his son - 2016
- 1690: John Bennet, the original Golden Farmer - 2015
- 1960: Anthony Miller, the last hanged at Barlinnie - 2014
- 69: Vitellius, "yet I was once your emperor" - 2013
- 1711: Phebe Ward, Thomas Pritchet and John Matthews - 2012
- 1793: 213 or so Lyonnaise - 2011
- 1815: José María Morelos, Mexican revolutionary - 2010
- 1942: Eleven members of the Red Orchestra - 2009
- 2003: Liu Yong, for corruption - 2008
- 1849: Not Fyodor Dostoyevsky - 2007
Entry Filed under: 19th Century,Capital Punishment,Common Criminals,Crime,Death Penalty,Execution,Guest Writers,Hanged,Murder,New York,Other Voices,Theft,USA
Tags: 1860s, 1865, december 22, henry wilson
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