The Hangman Chronicles: The Woman No One Would Hang
Early PEI, like many other places, had harsh sentences by today's standards. Death by hanging was a possible sentence for many crimes, including murder, rape, arson, and theft.
One punishment that we would consider harsh by today's standards was the sentence handed down to Elizabeth Mukely. In 1778, she was convicted of stealing £ 7.7 from her employer. From what I could find, this would be equivalent to just over $1,500 today.
She was sentenced to death by hanging.
This was the first capital punishment handed down on the Island and it was to a woman. In addition, her crime was not considered "clergyable."
Until 1836, those convicted of certain capital crimes could plead the benefit of the clergy to "relieve them from the consequent penalty - This plea, allowed originally only to clergymen to take them out of the jurisdiction of the civil courts', was later extended to all those who could read, then to everyone. As the previous method gave an advantage to the educated."
However, Mukely's crime wasn't eligible, therefore, she couldn't plead to the Church for them to intervene on her behalf and save her from the hangman's noose.
As it turned out, she didn't need the Church to save her.
The provost marshall tried to hire a hangman, he had no takers. No one would hang her. He, himself, refused to and resigned.
I would theorize this had more to do with her being a woman than people disagreeing with the sentence.
As no one could be found to hang her, she was banished from PEI and went to Nova Scotia.
There is little information available on this topic so I hope you enjoyed this shorter blog post!
Palmer, H.L. "Early Court Records" in Historic Highlights of Prince Edward Island. Published and edited by the Prince Edward Island Historical Society, pgs 59-64.
One punishment that we would consider harsh by today's standards was the sentence handed down to Elizabeth Mukely. In 1778, she was convicted of stealing £ 7.7 from her employer. From what I could find, this would be equivalent to just over $1,500 today.
She was sentenced to death by hanging.
Until 1836, those convicted of certain capital crimes could plead the benefit of the clergy to "relieve them from the consequent penalty - This plea, allowed originally only to clergymen to take them out of the jurisdiction of the civil courts', was later extended to all those who could read, then to everyone. As the previous method gave an advantage to the educated."
As it turned out, she didn't need the Church to save her.
The provost marshall tried to hire a hangman, he had no takers. No one would hang her. He, himself, refused to and resigned.
I would theorize this had more to do with her being a woman than people disagreeing with the sentence.
As no one could be found to hang her, she was banished from PEI and went to Nova Scotia.
There is little information available on this topic so I hope you enjoyed this shorter blog post!
Palmer, H.L. "Early Court Records" in Historic Highlights of Prince Edward Island. Published and edited by the Prince Edward Island Historical Society, pgs 59-64.
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