Hanging of Thomas Dowd, 1879
When Thomas Dowd, of New River, was hung for the murder of Thomas Ward, his landlord, in a crime that seemed to involve a relationship with Mrs. Ward, there were probably few or none in the town who could remember the previous hanging--that of Richard and Maria Stewart, which took place at a different jail in 1826. This was the jail's first hanging since its construction 1832. The trial and death of Dowd received sensation coverage in the Bay Pilot by J. G. Lorimer. The reporter visited Dowd and, after professing absolute impartiality in everything to follow, immediate made a number of judgements about the character of both Dowd and Mrs. Ward. But that was journalism then. The whole affair had a kind of holiday air to it. There seemed to be no shame attached to what might be coming for Dowd. Evidently, there wasn't much opposition to capital punishment at the time. The reader is invited to compare the coverage of this event with the Town's last hanging, that of Roland Hutchings in 1942, reproduced below.
- The Bay Pilot's Coverage of the Event