The last man executed in Cornwall, William Hampton, hanged in Bodmin on this date in 1909.

Hampton was in the awkward position of making time with a 16-year-old girl whose mother he was boarding with, and then having the girl break things off with him.

Probably a change of lodgings would have suited all best, but Hampton moved to Bodmin Jail by throttling poor Emily Tredea to death one night that May. The exact trigger for the murder was never clear, as the eventual murderer had been living amicably in the house for a spell even after Tredea’s breakup. The jury recommended mercy for Hampton on account of his youth, his lack of previous criminal record, and a crime that appeared to be at least somewhat heat-of-the-moment. The judge made the contrary recommendation on account of Hampton’s having spent several minutes to choke out his ex-girlfriend, then fled from the law, showing some degree of intent and mens rea. The judge’s recommendation carried the day with the Home Office.

Apparently his revenant spirit has been captured on camera haunting Bodmin Jail.

On this day..

• 1573: Lancelot van Brederode, sea beggar
• 1934: William Bayly, bad neighbor
• 1683: Andrew Guilline, Covenanter accessory
• 1768: Francesco Arcangeli, Winckelmann-Mörder
• 1934: Not Walter Lett, To Kill a Mockingbird inspiration
• 1780: John Gamble, anti-Wilmot
• 1813: Johann Christian Claudius Devaranne
• 1301: False Margaret, Norwegian pretender
• 1898: Choe Si-hyeong, Donghak leader
• 1998: David Wilson
• 1889: "Cattle Kate" Ella Watson lynched
• 1514: György Dózsa, Transylvanian Braveheart