Hanging of Roland Hutchings, 1942
The last of St. Andrews three public executions--that of Tom Roland Hutchings, found guilty of the murder of Bernice Connors at a Black's Harbour dance--was performed at midnight with no public invited. It was a sign of the times. Local resident Harrry Mallory told me that absolutely nobody in St. Andrews or the area could be found to act as executioner, that one had to be brought in from Quebec. (There is a bit of a contradiction here, as I was informed by another resident that someone from Charlotte County served in this capacity.) Apparently, it was difficult even to find someone to build the scaffold. The bucksaw which was used to cut the timbers still hangs on a wall in the St. Andrews Hardware store. An awning from a local store was used to drape the scaffold, just in case any of the curious were idling about. But that was unlikely on a January midnight. Mr. Mallory's father officiated, and Harry's account of this event, with the air still and very cold, and absolute silence everywhere, was quite riveting. The reader is instructed to compare this event with the very public execution which preceded it--that of Thomas Dowd in 1879. J. F. Worrell makes an eloquent comparison of the two hangings, reproduced below. Hutchings grave marker--a metal cross from which the wooden name tag has long rotted away--stands just inside the entrance of the Rural Cemetery. According to a groundskeeper, it gets a fair bit of visitation.
