The Gruesome Gibbets of Newfoundland
A sunset view of Gibbet Hill, St. John’s, NL
These days Gibbet Hill Trail at Signal Hill offers beautiful views of St. John’s but, at points in its history, it wasn’t the scenery people noticed— it was the corpses swinging in the breeze.
What is a Gibbet?
Gibbet Hill gets its name from a wooden scaffold, called a gibbet. They were built to display the corpses of executed criminals.
-
The purpose of gibbeting was two-fold. First, it posthumously shamed the criminal; second, it served to deter people from committing crime.
Gibbeting was an accepted practice in Europe and, in the 18th and early 19th century, it was done in Newfoundland too. It was reserved for the worst criminals. It was, literally, believed to be a fate worse than death.
In practice, an executed convict was cut down from the gallows, sometimes dissected, then wrapped in chains (or caged). The body was taken to a prominent location, often close to the site of the crime, hoisted high above the ground and hung on the gibbet for all to see.
Sometimes the body remained suspended for years. To make sure the corpse survived it was sometimes tarred to slow decomposition. The cage or chains were to prevent people —often the loved-ones of the deceased — from removing the body and giving it a decent burial.
It was a cruel practice — family members, already stigmatized by their relation to a criminal, had to endure watching the body of a parent, sibling or cousin be mocked as it decomposed before their very eyes.
Newfoundland’s First Gibbet
The first known use of a gibbet in Newfoundland wasn’t on Gibbet Hill. It was near the base of Prescott Street, isn St. John’s. It was in 1754 and was in response to the murder of William Keen.
The Murder of William Keen
William Keen was an elderly man and known to keep money in his house — enough money to become a target for a crew of thieves.
Eight men and one woman conspired to rob him. The woman supposedly knew exactly where Keen kept the cash. With this information they decided that, under the cover of darkness, it would be an easy task. To show they were serious, they placed their hands on a prayer book swearing to be true to one another.
Keen was asleep when the robbers came.
The crew approached his home carrying whatever weapons they could find; some had muskets, others scythes.
A small group kept guard outside. Disguised as a man, the woman entered the house with the remaining men and led the way to Keen’s bedroom, where she believed the cash was hidden.
Carrying a single candle they crept slowly toward the room.
As quiet as they were, when they entered the room there was a stirring. Keen was awake. He’d heard them! He called out.
They knew he had to be silenced immediately. The theives rushed toward him and, in the commotion, the candle went out.
In the darkness they panicked. One of the robbers held a scythe. He swung it toward the bed. Keen pulled the quilt up to protect his face but it wasn’t enough. Twice the scythe hit him. Another robber lifted his musket and smashed the handle into Keen’s skull.
It was a killing blow.
All nine of the robbers were convicted and sentenced to hang. Two of them — a male and the lone female — were to be hung in chains from a gibbet. Ultimately, five of the convicted were respited but four hanged and, according to Pedley’s History of Newfoundland, they carried out the gibbetting.
The scaffold was set up near the base of Prescott Street and the corpses were hung, with the hope that the people of Newfoundland would never again dare such an audacious crime.
Prescott Street, St. John’s, 2022
Moving the Gibbet
It didn’t work, of course, and the gibbet was called into use again (and again).
In 1759 it was relocated to Signal Hill and… the story gets a bit murky here.
According to a plaque posted by the Johnson Family Foundation near the site, only one gibbetting is known to have happened on the Gibbet Hill site. It was likely in 1791 (when Cornelius Bryan was gibbeted for the murder of Henry Brooks).
While it may be true that 1791 saw the site’s only gibbetting, it was definitely home to multiple hangings.
The Gibbet Hill installation was torn down to make room for new buildings in 1796.
Newfoundland was not done with gibbeting, though. In 1815, John Hearn was gibbeted in St. John’s for the murder of his wife. He was hanged on the Barrens. Barrens likely refers to the area ranging between Government House and Fort Townsend. It’s not clear if he was gibbeted there as well.
Newfoundland’s Last Gibbet
Much more is known about the last known gibbetting on the island. It happened at Harbour Grace and it sparked a riot.
The Murder at Robert Bray’s
In 1833 Peter Downing (sometimes recorded as Downey) and Patrick Malone worked for Robert Crocker Bray in Harbour Grace. The men believed that Bray kept cash in his house — maybe as much as 50 pounds. In their eyes, that was enough to warrant a murder.
One July evening the men entered the Bray home. They found Robert Bray sitting at the kitchen table. As he turned toward them they struck him with a hatchet and killed him. The men — now murderers — went upstairs. They found Bray’s son Samuel and maid, Ellen. Each, in turn, was hacked to death.
The men searched the house but, to their dismay, they were unable to find any great sums of money. They took what valuables they could find and set fire to the house, hoping to obscure the crime they’d committed.
They fled to a nearby cove to hide their meager spoils. As they were returning to town they encountered a team of locals raising an alarm about a fire at the Bray home. The men, not sure how to act, joined the brigade. To their horror, when the reached the house, they saw the flames had been extinguished.
The murders were plain for all to see.
Because he’d been living at Bray’s house, suspicion fell on Malone almost immediately.
Malone was told that if he gave a full account of what happened he wouldn’t hang for the crime. He cooperated and reported that Downing had burst into the house, committed the killings and that his only role had been to help hide the loot.
Downing was not offered the same sort of deal as Malone but he copped to the crime too, except in his version Malone had wielded the hatchet.
The case did not go to trial until January, 1834. The trial was held in St. John’s and was presided over by Chief Justice Henry Boulton who instructed the jury that it really didn’t matter which man wielded the hatchet since they both intended to harm Bray.
-
Even at the time of the conviction many had issues with the way officials acted in the Bray case. The issuing of a plea bargain to one man (Malone) merely lead to an opportunity for one man to blame the other (Downing).
It was the opinion of many that the conviction and sentencing of Downing was a miscarriage of justice.
The jury found both men guilty. They were sentenced to hang, have their bodies dissected by a surgeon and be gibbetted. Shortly thereafter, due to his plea bargain, Malone’s execution was commuted.
Downing was executed in St. John’s and his body was carried back to Harbour Grace where it was hoisted onto a gibbet and left on public display… until the people of town decided they’d had enough of it.
Riot
In April 1834 the citizens of Harbour Grace banded together, descending on the gibbet. By some estimates the crowd neared a thousand people. They cut down Downing’s corpse and brought it across town to the home of Dr. Stirling, the local magistrate.
They dumped the body on his doorstep with a note:
Dr. S.
This is your man. You were the cause of bringing him here. Take and bury him or Look Out. Should you be the cause of allowing him to be put up again we will mark you for it. So do your duty and put him out of sight.
Truly,
A Friend,
Anon. Carbonear
Effectively they told Stirling that he must properly dispose of the body or he would answer for it. The threat, though vague, was extremely effective. Stirling capitulated to their demands and Downing was buried.
With him, a gruesome chapter in Newfoundland’s criminal justice system came to a close.
Legacy
Gibbet Hill and Deadmans Pond, St. John’s, NL
The Gibbets have been gone for nearly 200 years but, the sites on which they stood on still carry their name. Both St. John’s and Harbour Grace have a Gibbet Hill. Nowadays they hold walking trails and are great places to stroll and, maybe marvel at how different a place it might have been two centuries ago.
-
History of Newfoundland, Rev. Pedley, 1863
Gibbet Hill, Archival Moments
The Newfoundland Patriot, January 7, 1834
Plebeian Collective Action in Harbour Grace and Carbonear, 1830-1840, Linda D. Little, 1984
Gibbets, Encyclopedia of Newfoundland
Gibbet Hill, Patrick Collins
