The Hanging and Redemption of John Gordon: The True Story of Rhode Island's Last ExecutionArcadia Publishing, 2013 M04 23 - 192 pages On a frigid day in 1843, Amasa Sprague, a wealthy Yankee mill owner, left his mansion to check on his cattle. On the way, he was accosted and beaten beyond recognition, and his body was left facedown in the snow. What followed was a trial marked by judicial bias, witness perjury and societal bigotry that resulted in the conviction of twenty-nine-year-old Irish-Catholic John Gordon. He was sentenced to hang. Despite overwhelming evidence that the trial was flawed and newly discovered evidence that clearly exonerated him, an anti-Irish Catholic establishment refused him a new trial. On February 14, 1845, John Gordon became the last victim of capital punishment in Rhode Island. Local historian Paul F. Caranci brings this case to life, graphically describing the murder and exposing a corrupt judicial system, a biased newspaper and a bigoted society responsible for the unjust death of an innocent man. |
Contents
Irish Catholic Immigrants Are Blamed and Punished for Rebellious Reform | |
One Irish Catholic Familys Quest for Opportunity | |
Between Eight Oclock in the Morning and Noon | |
Between Half Past Two and Half Past Three in the Afternoon | |
A Most Atrocious Murder | |
Suspects Are Rounded Up Even as Evidence Is Being | |
The Funeral of Amasa Sprague | |
Monday April 8 Some Man Hath Impiously Assumed | |
Friday April 12 Madder Makes a Stain Like Blood | |
October 19October 31 It Resembles the Gun I | |
Tell My Story | |
Other editions - View all
The Hanging & Redemption of John Gordon: The True Story of Rhode Island's ... Paul F. Caranci No preview available - 2013 |
The Hanging and Redemption of John Gordon: The True Story of Rhode Island's ... Paul F. Caranci No preview available - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
Amasa Sprague arrest arrived assembly attorney Atwell Bagot Beattie began Blake blood boot bridge brother Carpenter Chapter church clothes coat Cole court Cranston Cranston Street crime scene crossexamination death defense team DeMerritt DiLauro Dooley door Dorr Rebellion Dorr’s Dorrites Durfee Dyer’s elected evidence fact father friends Gordon family Governor half past Hawkin’s Hole Irish immigrants January Job Durfee John and William John Gordon John O’Brien John’s Johnston jurors jury justice Kingston license Lincoln Chafee lived Michael O’Brien mother murder of Amasa Nicholas Gordon Nicholas’s noted pardon People’s Constitution Photo pistol Pocasset River political Potter prisoners Providence Journal Rhode Island Samuel Ward King snow Sprague family Sprague mansion Sprague’s Spraguesville Sunday Susan Field swamp testified testimony Thomas Dorr Thomas Wilson Dorr took town tracks Trial of John trial of Nicholas vote walked Waterman William Gordon William Sprague William Sprague III witnesses