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Capital punishment prevailed in Puritan Boston. The Bible
was the guide for the Founding Fathers in doling out justice. Needless to say, they
did not take too kindly to immoral behavior.
One the most famous cases is that of Daniel Fairfield. In 1642, for "grossly
immoral conduct," he was sentenced to be: "Severely whiped at Boston the next lecture day & have one of his nostrills
slit so high as may-well bee, & then to be seared, & kept in prison, till hee bee fit to bee sent to Salem, & then to bee whiped againe, & have the
other nostrill slit & seared; then further hee is confined to Boston neck
[the peninsula of Boston],
so as if hee be found at any time dureing his life to go out of Boston neck,
that is, beyond the railes toward Roxberry, or beyond the low water marke,
hee shalbee put to death upon due conviction thereof: and hee is also to
weare an hempen roape about his neck, the end of it hanging out two foote at
least, & so often as he shalbee found abroad without it, hee shalbee whiped;
& if hee shall at any time hearafter attempt to abuse any p[er]son as formerly,
hee shall bee put to death, upon due conviction."
For many years, despite repeated pleas of Fairfield's wife that his
sentence be commuted, the man with the mutilated nose might have been seen
in the streets of Boston with a rope hanging around his neck--a constant
reminder to him that if he sinned again he would be hanged.
Finally, in 1652, 10 years after sentence had been imposed, the court, in
response to the pleadings of Fairfield's wife, allowed the rope to be set
aside.
The first execution in Boston was in the fall of 1637. One year later, the next victim of the gallows was
that of a Salem woman named Dorothy Talbye. She was insane, and was
considered a public nuisance. Governor Winthrop described her as having "melancholy or
spiritual delusions," which led to her public whipping. Soon after, "she was so possessed with Satan, that he
persuaded her (by his delusions, which she listened to as revelations from
God) to break the neck of her own child."
Talbye was transported to Boston and made to climb a ladder at the
execution place. When the support was pulled away from under her feet, she
grasped at the ladder and swung struggling until she slowly strangled to death.
Six years later, two more persons went to the gallows at Boston; James
Britton, and Mary Latham, a young wife, 18 years old, from Plymouth. They
had been found guilty of adultery.
It is believed that Latham had been rejected by a young man for whom she had
great affection, and subsequently vowed she'd marry the next man that came
into her life. She then impulsively married an elderly man, for whom she had
no affection.
Latham became what could be described today as a "party girl," as
she was soon courted by young
men and romanced with wine. Such behavior was not tolerated, and her
lifestyle was investigated by the Puritan theocracy. She eventually
confessed that attempts were made to corrupt her. More than
12 men were implicated in fostering her behavior, of which two were
married. A night of revelry resulted in an encounter with James Britton,
which led to their incarceration.
So, without a single witness observing their crime, James Britton and Mary Latham were hanged by
the neck until dead for an implicit act of adultery.
"They both died very pentinent," says John Winthrop, "especially the woman,
who had some comfortable hope of pardon for her sin, and gave good
exhortation to all young maids to be obedient to their parents, and to take
heed of evil company."
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