The Woman No One Would Hang

Anna Derks

At one time in the history of PEI hanging was a punishment set out for a wide variety of crimes.  In some cases hanging was used to alleviate the costs of incarceration.

For example, in 1815, two men were publicly hanged for stealing a loaf of bread from a woman's house.

One bizarre situation arose when in 1778 a woman (name unknown) was sentenced to die on the gallows for thievery.  However, no one wanted the job of being the hangman.

The local Sheriff of the time was a gentleman by the name of Captain Thomas Marshall (why do peoples names so often match their jobs?).  Marshall placed advertisements in local papers offering the hangman's job - no applications were received.

Since the hanging was originally scheduled for late in the year, Marshall then decided to delay the event until the spring when "people from the continent" (Europeans) would arrive.   Surely one of them needed a job!  No takers.

In frustration Marshall resigned his post and eventually the woman was set free - neck intact.

Who says there is no justice on the frontier?

Note: This story was extracted from Lorne Callbeck's book My Island, My People, published in 1979.

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