1848: Denying the Fatal Blow: John Jordan Hanged at Launceston for a Plotted Robbery Murder
John Jordan, a young shoemaker, and farmhand Patrick McDonough spent months plotting to rob an elderly settler named Zimram Youram, using a pair of boots Jordan was making for him as their pretext to keep calling at his isolated hut near Launceston. When an attempt to drug the old man failed, McDonough bludgeoned him with a wrench hammer while Jordan looked on, and the pair ransacked the hut for his hidden savings, walking away with about 17 pounds in coins and notes.
The two men quickly turned on each other. Jordan's confession named McDonough as the killer, while McDonough claimed Jordan had struck the blow. A powerful defence swayed the jury and McDonough walked free of the murder charge, though he was held for the robbery; Jordan was convicted and condemned. He was hanged at Launceston on this day in 1848.
On the scaffold, Jordan insisted he had not struck the fatal blow and had tried to stop the killing, declaring that it would one day be discovered who truly committed it. His last words, delivered calmly to the crowd, were "God bless you all."
