- John Gordon (murderer)
John Gordon (died
13 February 1845 ) was the last person executed byRhode Island . His execution has been ascribed by some researchers to anti-Roman Catholic and anti-Irishimmigrant bias.In 1844, Gordon was tried and convicted for the
31 December 1843 beatingmurder ofAmasa Sprague , a Cranstontextile factory owner. Sprague was a member of a prominent Rhode Island family: his brother William was a United States senator. Six months before his murder, Amasa Sprague had used his family's political influence to have Cranston resident Nicholas Gordon'sliquor license removed by the city council. (Sprague's employees were habitually getting drunk at Gordon's premises.) Nicholas Gordon was the brother of John Gordon; both wereRoman Catholic immigrants fromIreland . Nicholas, John and William Gordon (another brother) were all tried for murder, but only John was convicted. William was found not guilty and in Nicholas's case, held after John's execution, thejury was hung. John Gordon was executed byhanging in the state jail in Providence.Seven years after Gordon's execution, Rhode Island abolished the death penalty. Although it was reintroduced in 1872, no executions took place before capital punishment was abolished again by the state in 1984. In the 1990s, when the
Rhode Island General Assembly considered reinstating the death penalty, Gordon's case was used by those against reinstatement to demonstrate the dangers of capital punishment.References
*Charles G. Hoffmann and Tess Hoffmann (1998). "Brotherly Love: Murder and the Politics of Prejudice in Nineteenth-Century Rhode Island" (Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, ISBN 1558491635)
*Scott MacKay, [http://www.projo.com/news/content/death_penalty_case_05-25-08_TCA892N_v56.2f760d1.html "Judge’s old notes shed light on last execution in R.I."] , "Providence Journal ",2008-05-25
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