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1630: A Mayflower Pilgrim Becomes the First Man Hanged in the New World Colonies

John Billington had been a troublemaker since the Mayflower crossing, defying Myles Standish and drawing accusations in a colony revolt, always insisting he was innocent. In 1630 a long feud over land boundaries turned fatal when he ambushed and shot fellow colonist John Newcomen, reportedly after catching him robbing his traps.

A grand and petty jury found Billington guilty of willful murder. Governor William Bradford, wary of setting a precedent, consulted the leaders of the neighbouring Massachusetts Bay Colony, who agreed the killing had to be answered to purge the land from blood. Billington was hanged on 30 September 1630, becoming the first person executed in Plymouth Colony. His burial place was never recorded.

Mayflower Compact 1620 handwritten agreement document

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Colonial History Execution Massachusetts Murder Trial USA

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1901: He Sharpened His Knife for Days: A Jealous Rockhampton Murder Ends on the Gallows at Brisbane

John Rheuben had lived with Fanny Hardwick for two years, supporting her mother and child, until he turned her out and she took up with another man. Furious at her refusal to return, he beat his rival twice, threatened to “do for him”, and quietly sharpened a sheath knife at the local gasworks. On a Sunday evening in Rockhampton he forced his way into the house where she was staying, dragged her into a back bedroom, and stabbed her five or six times, one wound reaching her heart.

Tried before Mr Justice Power, Rheuben was convicted despite a defence of temporary insanity, and a petition for mercy signed across Rockhampton failed to move the Executive. He was hanged in Brisbane on 30 September 1901, praying loudly on the drop and thanking the warders for their kindness before the trap fell.

He never admitted the killing outright. To his priest he said only that he had been “mad drunk” and remembered striking at someone, but nothing more.

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Australia Brisbane Execution Jealousy Murder QLD Rockhampton Trial

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1845: She Watched Her Friend Killed and Waited for the Killers: A Woman Hanged at Hobart

Eliza Benwell was housemaid at an inn in New Norfolk, near Hobart, where fellow servant Jane Saunders worked alongside her. In January 1845 three of the inn’s male servants seized Saunders in the garden during what began as friendly play, stuffed a handkerchief into her mouth and dragged her, apparently lifeless, down to the river. Benwell stood by and watched it happen, then waited at the house for the men to return before letting them in.

The three killers were tried and hanged first. Benwell was convicted separately as an accessory before and after the fact, a charge carrying the same capital sentence as murder itself. She was hanged before a huge crowd on 30 September 1845, closing her eyes on the scaffold so she would not have to look at the spectators, reportedly the first woman executed in the city in fifteen years.

On the eve of her death she confessed that she could have saved Saunders’s life had she known a murder was intended.

Hobart, Tasmania, Australia - December 24 2016: Hobart city and derwent river viewed from suburb of sandy bay with sea mist rolling over eastern shore | ID 130062583 © Andrew Balcombe | Dreamstime.com — ID 130062583 © Andrew Balcombe | Dreamstime.com

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Accessory to Murder Australia Execution Historical Crime Hobart Murder New Norfolk TAS Trial

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1805: “I Have Killed Biddy, and Am Going to Deliver Myself Up”: A Hawkesbury Murderer Hanged at Sydney

William Miller, a labourer at Hawkesbury near Sydney, attacked Bridget Horan (also recorded as Kean) with a hoe on the afternoon of 18 September 1805. Minutes later he ran to a neighbour and blurted out the truth: “Yes: I have killed Biddy, and am going to deliver myself up.” He then led the chief constable straight to her body himself, the hoe still lying beside it.

At his trial before the Court of Criminal Jurisdiction in Sydney, Miller pleaded not guilty to acting with malice, insisting the killing had come from unbridled momentary rage rather than intent. The court was unconvinced. He was convicted and hanged on 30 September 1805, his body afterwards handed over for dissection.

Witnesses said Miller never wavered from his confession, going to the gallows with what observers called sincere repentance, seemingly resigned that only his own death could answer for hers.

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Australia Confession Execution Hawkesbury Murder NSW Sydney Trial

1630: A Mayflower Pilgrim Becomes the First Man Hanged in the New World Colonies

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1901: He Sharpened His Knife for Days: A Jealous Rockhampton Murder Ends on the Gallows at Brisbane

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1845: She Watched Her Friend Killed and Waited for the Killers: A Woman Hanged at Hobart

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1805: “I Have Killed Biddy, and Am Going to Deliver Myself Up”: A Hawkesbury Murderer Hanged at Sydney

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