In the dock of St. George’s Hall Liverpool on the 4th of February 1929, stood 21 year old Joseph Reginald Victor Clarke, arraigned on a charge of murder. When asked how he pleaded he replied “guilty”. Mr Justice Finlay asked him if he understood the effect of his plea, and having been assured that he did, donned the black cap and passed sentence of death on him. The whole trial took just five minutes to complete.

-From the March 12, 2020 Facebook post of the Capital Punishment UK Facebook page. Click through to find out why this Princeton alum, dubbed by newsmen “the boy with a hundred sweethearts”, decided to save everyone the trouble of proving him guilty of murdering one of those sweethearts’ mother …

On this day..

• 1695: Highwayman Biss
• 1817: John Cashman, Spa Fields rioter
• 295: Saint Maximilian, conscientious objector
• 1858: William Williams, guano-freighter cook
• 1943: David Cobb, the first U.S. serviceman hanged in World War II Britain
• 1690: Jack Bird, pugilist
• 1421: The last Viennese Jews
• 1975: Olga Hepnarova, tram spotter
• 2006: The family of Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi
• 1939: Mikayil Mushfig, Azerbaijani poet
• 1960: Hoang Le Kha, NVA cadre
• 1289: Demetre II the Self-Sacrificer