1894: Fred Jordan Hanged at Melbourne Gaol for the Murder of Minnie Crabtree

Frederick Jordan, an American convicted of killing his girlfriend Minnie Crabtree at Port Melbourne, was executed at Melbourne Gaol on the morning of 20 August 1894. He had maintained a quiet, composed demeanour throughout his time in the condemned cell, receiving last rites from Rev. Dean M'Kenna after Father Walshe fell ill and could not attend.

Jordan walked to the gallows with a firm step, stood erect before the assembled witnesses. When asked if he had anything to say, Jordan replied: 'I have nothing to say: it's no use to say anything.', and was executed without incident.

Fred Jordan
Fred Jordan

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1692: Five Hanged at Salem in a Single Day for Witchcraft

On 19 August 1692, five people were executed by hanging at Salem, Massachusetts, after being convicted of witchcraft: Martha Carrier, George Jacobs Sr., George Burroughs, John Willard, and John Proctor. The executions were among the most notorious of the Salem witch trials, a period of mass hysteria that gripped colonial New England.

Fourteen more people would be executed before the year was out, and 150 others were imprisoned. The Salem trials remain one of the darkest episodes in early American legal history.

Painting of two alleged witches being tried in Salem, Massachusetts as part of the infamous witchhunts.
Painting of two alleged witches being tried in Salem, Massachusetts as part of the infamous witchhunts.

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1878: Sam Ah Poo Hanged at Toowoomba Gaol for the Axe Murder of a Drover

On the evening of 24 April 1878, drover J. Fisher McMichael was washing himself at a camp near Bundaberg when Sam Ah Poo, the cook on his droving run, struck him from behind with an axe. The blow opened a gash four inches long beside the backbone. As McMichael fell, Ah Poo swung twice more, shouting 'I killoo you now, you no killeemo.' McMichael survived only four hours. One of the drovers wrestled Ah Poo to the ground; when bound, Ah Poo appeared entirely calm, described by a witness as like one who had got a load off his mind.

Tried at the Toowoomba Winter Assizes on 22 July 1878 before Justice Lilley, Ah Poo's defence argued insanity and delusion. The jury disagreed, returning a guilty verdict after thirty minutes. On the morning of 19 August 1878, Ah Poo walked to the scaffold at Toowoomba Gaol with firm steps, requiring little support from the warders. The bolt was drawn at eight o'clock and death followed almost instantaneously.

Stockman on horseback droving cattle along dusty dirt road
Stockman on horseback droving cattle along dusty dirt road

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1612: The Pendle Witch Trials Begin: Eleven Accused in One of England's Most Documented Witchcraft Cases

In August 1612, eleven people stood trial at Lancaster Castle accused of witchcraft in one of the most thoroughly documented witch trials in English history. Six of the accused came from two rival poverty-stricken families: the Demdikes, led by Elizabeth Southerns known as Old Demdike, and the Chattoxes, led by Anne Whittle known as Mother Chattox. The trials unfolded against a backdrop of religious unrest in Lancashire, a region long regarded as resistant to Protestant authority and sympathetic to Catholicism.

Ten of the eleven were found guilty and executed. The proceedings were recorded in an official publication, The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster, by court clerk Thomas Potts, ensuring the case survived as legend. In a country where fewer than 500 people were executed for witchcraft over three centuries, this single summer of trials in Pendle accounts for roughly 2% of that total.

Sculpture of Alice Nutter famous English witch. Sculpture of Alice Nutter captured on the way to Pendle hill, famous witch trail and the history of the English witch craft. | ID 113675970 © Milosz Kubiak | Dreamstime.com
ID 113675970 © Milosz Kubiak | Dreamstime.com

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