The crime had taken place at Sheffield on the night of Tuesday/Wednesday the 18th of July. Catherine [Stacey, the victim, a 12-year-old girl -ed.] was a servant to a publican named George Elam and went to bed a little before midnight, leaving her mistress, Sarah Elam drinking with a few regulars, including Hodkin. Around 1 am. Sarah woke Catherine and told her to move over as “Billy” as Hodkin was known was going to be sleeping in the same bed. Hodkin got into bed and immediately began to fondle Catherine and when she complained Sarah told her to be quiet or she would get a beating. Hodkin then proceeded to rape Catherine who tried to escape into Sarah’s room but was refused entry. For two weeks Catherine told no one what had happened to her but eventually she told her mother who took her to the doctor.

Hodkin’s friends tried to intervene at this stage by abducting Catherine to prevent her mother going to a magistrate. Her mother did and reported what had happened leading to several arrests on the 10th of August.

-From the September 29, 2020 Facebook post of the Capital Punishment UK Facebook page.

On this day..

• 1995: Navarat Maykha, accidental smuggler
• 1972: Helenira Rezende, Brazil guerrilla
• 1848: Harris Bell
• 1554: A false coiner and a masked dummy
• 1891: Ed Leeper and James Powell
• 1469: Humphrey and Charles Neville, Lancastrians
• 1893: Scuffletonians in Mt. Vernon, Georgia
• 1939: Pete Catalina and Angelo Agnes, Colorado murderers
• 1915: Thomas and Meeks Griffin, ancestors of Tom Joyner
• 1941: Babi Yar massacre begins
• 1503: Anacaona and the caciques of Xaragua
• 1979: Francisco Macías Nguema, President for Life