Where was Canada's last public hanging? This is a question I've been trying to answer for our upcoming exhibit; but the answer has proven less straight forward than I anticipated. Yesterday, I was excited to find an An Order-in-Council, signed by John A MacDonald legislating the end of public hangings in Canada. Though hangings continued behind prison walls until 1962, was Canada's last public hanging at our Huron County Gaol?The hanging of Patrick Whelan at the Carleton County Jail on February 11 1869 for the assassination of MP and Father of Confederation D'Arcy McGee [left] is mistakenly claimed to be the last public hanging in Canada. Ten months later, on December 7, 1869, Nicholas Melady was hanged in Goderich at the Huron District Gaol for the murder of his father and step-mother. A recently published book detailing the crime and hanging, by Melady's descendant John Melady, is titled Double Trapped: Canada's Last Public Hanging.
However - in 1869, Canada only included the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Hangings continued in public in areas that had not yet entered Confederation, such as the prairie provinces and BC.
While hangings were performed behind prison walls, the public was often still able to watch.
- The Sheriff could and often did invite interested spectators and newspaper reporters.
- Spectators were known to climb any nearby structure that would allow them to see into the yard. At the Montreal execution of Timothy Candy in 1910, dozens of people viewed the hanging from the roofs of adjoining houses. In this photo of the 1904 execution of Stanislau Lacroix in Hull, you can see the crowds on the nearby rooftops and telephone poles.
- Crowds of excited spectators were hard to stop. In March 1899, 2,000 uninvited guests stormed a Montreal gaol to witness a hanging, joining the 200 witnesses already inside the prison yard.
- The law was not always followed.
- The hanging scaffold was sometimes built taller than the prison walls to allow for public viewing.
An elderly museum patron noted several years earlier that he recalls watching gallows being built in public in Hamilton while riding the streetcar. Was this a case where the gallows were built higher than the prison walls to allow curious spectators a view? or was the law simply ignored? I'm not sure I can claim for certain that the hanging of Melady in Dec. 1869 was the last public hanging even in the provinces within Confederation at the time.
10 comments:
I too have been searching for the same answer. My father asked the same question on June 24 at the goal in Goderich. The helpful staff (Ashley)took his name and phone number and said she would get back to him. I said I would do some surfing in the meantime and that's how I found you! Are you any closer to an answer?
An editorial in the Seaforth Expositor after the 1869 Melady hanging notes: "The last public execution that will take place in Canada has been witnessed." I think that may be as close to the answer as we get.
I was told it was in Fort Frances, Ontario.
Samual Lount was the last public hanging in Canada. He was mistakenly thought to be bad but was later found by the government to be a Great Canadian. Check out the movie Samual Lount for more details.
Thanks for checking out my blog. Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews were hanged in front of a Toronto crowd on April 12 1838 but hangings continued to take place publicly in Canada for over 30 more years, until the practice was abolished by legislation on January 1 1870.
Lount and Matthews were not the last: at the Huron County gaol alone, hangings took place publicly in 1861 and 1869; in nearby Walkerton, a public hanging took place in 1868.
I was told that the last public hanging in Canada was in my home town of Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, more recently that you might expect. People still living remember the event...
I was told that the last public hanging in Canada was in my home town of Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, more recently that you might expect. People still living remember the event...
I was also told the last public hanging was in Fort Frances ON. My teacher told us that today.
hi, i work in the museum of the old prison of trois-rivieres, built in 1815-1819, officially opened in 1822, and closed in 1986. there were 4 public hangings in the yard of the prison, between 1854 and 1934. i have a picture of the gallows that was used for the hanging of mr. Alexandre Lavallée, 73 yrs, the 12th of august 1927,and on the picture you notice that the hanging platform is at the same height as the wall of the prison yard, from the archives we have, it was the scafold from montreal, assembled 4 days before the execution. the last one to be hanged in public in the district of trois-rivieres, was Ildege Blais, 25yrs, in 1934, for the murder of his father...if you want more info E-MAIL me at stephane_dez@hotmail.com
i hope this will help in your search
This website will provide you with some answers:
http://www.canadiancorrections.com/capitalpunishment.html
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