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1857: Alexander Cullen Hanged at Campbell Street Gaol for the Murder of Betsy Ross

Betsy was known to frequent the Red Lion Tavern in Liverpool Street and was living with Cullen in a house behind the tavern. On the night of the murder, witnesses saw her drinking at the Red Lion before she later returned towards the area with Cullen.

Cullen had lost his wife only a few months earlier and was supporting his young daughter. His landlord described him as sober, hardworking and careful with money, saying Cullen would sometimes explain how much he had earned, pay half towards the rent, and keep the rest “to feed the child.”

Later that night, Betsy was found dead inside their home with a bloodied tomahawk beside her. Cullen was arrested with blood on his hands and later admitted, “I have done it, and I am sorry for it.” He was convicted of murder andexecuted at the Campbell Street Gaol.

Alexander Cullen Hanged at Campbell Street Gaol for the Murder of Betsy Ross

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Australia Execution Murder TAS Trial

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1786: Britain Decides to Dump Its Criminal Class on the Far Side of the World

In 1786, Britain faced a crisis of its own making. Decades of the so-called bloody code had swollen the criminal class with petty offenders, American independence had slammed shut the old dumping ground of the colonial plantations, and the gaols were bursting. The solution settled upon was audacious: ship Britain’s unwanted more than 15,000 miles to New South Wales, a coastline only recently mapped by Captain Cook, who had praised the land around Botany Bay.

Over the next 80 years, more than 160,000 men and women were transported to Australia and Van Diemen’s Land. Transportation meant total erasure: the loss of home, family, and identity, followed by a brutal sea crossing and survival in an utterly foreign land. Yet for many, the far side of the world offered something the old country never would: a second chance.

First Fleet ships entering Sydney Harbour 1788 illustration

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Australia Colonial History England NSW Organised Crime Political Crime Prison Transportation UK

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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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England Execution Historical Lancashire Lancaster Political Crime Trial UK Witchcraft

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1987: Donald Harvey Sentenced to Triple Life Terms for Poisoning 24 Patients

Donald Harvey, an Ohio hospital orderly who described himself as an ‘angel of death’, was sentenced to triple life terms after pleading guilty to poisoning 24 patients. Harvey claimed to have begun killing in 1970 to ease the suffering of the terminally ill, smothering his first victim, 88-year-old Logan Evans, with a pillow at Marymount Hospital in London, Kentucky. His methods expanded to include arsenic, cyanide, morphine, insulin, and suffocation, deployed across multiple hospitals over 17 years.

Harvey ultimately claimed 87 murders, with 37 confirmed victims. To avoid execution, he pleaded guilty and received 28 life sentences in total. He died in custody at Toledo Correctional Institution on March 30, 2017, one of the most prolific hospital killers in American history.

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Murder Poisoning Serial Killer Trial USA

1857: Alexander Cullen Hanged at Campbell Street Gaol for the Murder of Betsy Ross

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1786: Britain Decides to Dump Its Criminal Class on the Far Side of the World

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

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1987: Donald Harvey Sentenced to Triple Life Terms for Poisoning 24 Patients

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