Legal Executions In New England

Between 1623 and 1960 (the date of the last execution as of 1999), Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont legally put to death more than 700 men and women for a wide variety of capital crimes ranging from army desertion to murder. This is a companion volume to Legal Executions in New York State and Legal Executions in New Jersey, both published by McFarland. It is comprised of chronologically arranged biographical entries for the executed persons. Each entry gives personal data on the executed person, including age, ethnicity, and gender, as well as a detailed account of the crime for which he or she was sentenced to death and information on the place and method of execution. Fully indexed.

"This book chronicles use of the death penalty by civil and military authorities in what is now the state of New Jersey. All documented executions conducted in or by the state from 1691 through 1963 are covered here in chronological order"--Provided by publisher.

On August 5, 1639, Gregory Peterson, a soldier at the Fort Amsterdam garrison, was executed by a firing squad for an unknown act of mutiny. Peterson was the first person known to be executed in what was to become New York. All known executions conducted in or by the estate of New York from 1639 through 1963 are covered here. In 1963 the last execution occurred before the state formally abolished the death penalty in 1965 (and reinstated it in 1995). Arranged chronologically, each entry includes the executed person's name and race, and the crime for which he or she was sentenced to death. This is followed by details of the crime and information on the place and method of execution.

New England is renowned for its quaint towns, beautiful landscapes, and busy ports. But it is also infamous as the setting for unexplained deaths, ghost stories, bizarre murders, and peculiar wills and epitaphs. In New England Nightmares: True Tales of the Strange and Gothic, author Keven McQueen explores the darker and stranger side of New England and the Mid-Atlantic. With shocking and unforgettable tales from the tip of Maine all the way to the New Jersey shore, this eerie collection explores our fascination with death and the unknown, including tales of medical students digging up bodies to dissect, of a murderer's bones being wired together after death, and of Dr. Timothy Clark Smith, who requested that he be buried with a breathing tube and glass window so he could see the outside world. An intriguing and frightful look into the odder side of the Northeast, New England Nightmares promises to send chills down your spine.

In the century following the Civil War, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia legally executed hundreds of men and women convicted of capital crimes. Based on exhaustive research of court records, newspapers death certificates and even gravestones, this book provides the essential details of each case. Arranged by state, entries for each execution are listed in chronological order, giving the name, race and age of the prisoner and a description of the crime of which he or she was convicted. The motive, if known, the date and place of the execution, and relevant sources are also included. Appendices provide preliminary lists of executions in these states before 1866, including some cases dating back to the 17th century. A significant number of hitherto undiscovered executions, further reveals that America's experience with capital punishment is more extensive than previously known.

For more than 300 years Massachusetts executed men and women convicted of murder. This book offers an account of how the efforts of reformers and abolitionists and the Supreme Judicial Court's commitment to the rule of law ultimately converged to end the death penalty in Massachusetts.

Examines both the legal and illegal uses of the death penalty in American history.

This reference work contains details of all the crimes resulting in executions in the fifteen western American territories. For each territory, entries are arranged chronologically and entered under the name of the condemned. Each entry provides the date, location, background and actions of the crime; details of the trial and execution of sentence; and references to the crime and execution in contemporary newspapers.