Geordie Justice (old executions from around the North East).

 Mary Nicholson was convicted of killing her employer in 1798. Mary was only young and had found work as a housemaid with Mr Atkinson, a local farmer. Mr Atkinson was cruel, nasty and and at times violent with Mary. He also ''took liberties with her'' ( I think we can all guess that meaning).  Mary was angry, so she purchased arsenic on the excuse she was washing sheep (arsenic was used in sheep dipping among many things). Once back at the house Mary mixed the arsenic with flour,. She knew Mr Atkinson's mother was making him a pudding. However, when Mr Atkinson returned from work he refused the pudding and went to bed. Not wanting to waste food his mother made the pudding into a pie for the whole family to eat the following day. The whole family got ill and the doctor was able to save 4 of the 5 family members. Sadly Mr Atkinson's mother was very ill and later died. The family accused Mary of attempting to kill them all. Mary Nicholson was sentanced to hang but

 On 1st August 1763 Margaret Middleton was hanged at Durham Prison for the murder of a girl. Margaret was employed by the City Of Durham to transport and accompany a child from poverty to Northallerton. She was to stay a couple of days until the child was settled with a family and then return.  Margaret received the money before setting off for the journey, sadly a few miles out of the city the child was drowned in a streamlet called The Browney near St Oswald's Church. This occurence was not unusual as City officials often paid people to accompany minors to foster families. However, often it was deemed a better idea by the person being paid, to get rid of the child and go and spend the money. The girl's body was found and officials had Margaret arrested.

 May 3rd 1758 Margaret Dryden was hanged for the murder of her own child. On the 1st Feb 1758 a female child's body was found on a midden in Berwick. Neighbours grew suspicious of Margaret stating that she had been pregnant but suddenly wasn't and returned with no baby. Authorities had midwives examine Margaret and they confirmed there were some blood stained clothes hidden. The midwives also confirmed that Margaret had recently given birth and Margaret was arrested.  The child's body was taken to surgeons to examine closely on the cause of death. Surgeons concluded that as the child's lungs floated in water, the likelihood was the child was born alive. The cause of death was the child's throat being cut by a large rough bladed knife before she was thrown into the water still alive.  Margaret was tried and pleaded not guilty. However a large knife was found in her house. She was convicted and sentanced to hang in Berwick on May 3rd. 

 In 1594 Thomas Boste was hanged on the site where my former school stands, St Leonard's in Durham. While I remember vaguely a teacher mentioning it I never really looked into who he was and why he died. Thomas was born to a landowner and seemed to have a run-of-the-mill childhood. He converted to Catholiscism in 1576 in Reims. This of course was during Elizabeth 1 reign and as she was Protestant being a Catholic was a crime. However, in 1581 Thomas decided to return to the North of England and arrived in Hartlepool, from their he travelled to East Anglia. Thomas spent a few years travelling around and was later recorded being near Brancepeth Castle in Durham working as a missionary. For this reason he was wanted for arrest. For 10yrs Thomas evaded arrest until one day he was betrayed by a ''friend'' who told the authorities where to find Thomas. After a service (in which his so called friend attended) authorites gathered to arrest Thomas. Thomas was found in a prie

  In 1752 a 19yr old soldier called Ewan MacDonald was convicted of murdering a man in a public house on the Bigg Market, Newcastle. How does a 19yr old come to condemned to death?  Ewan was a large man from the Scottish Highlands who wore a kilt with pride and honour. However, he was known to lash out if anyone spoke ill of his kilt and this gave him a reputation. Ewan was on a temporary stationing at Newcastle and he went out for some drinks. At some point that night after a few drinks an argument had started and escalated. It was saif that Ewan followed some men outside and stabbed Robert Parker through the neck and broke another man's arm. Some argued he was a killer, other argued it was self-defence. The 1752 Murder Act had come into law so people convicted had to be hanged within 2 days of judgement. Ewan was sentanced to be hanged, dissected and studied after being found guilty. As Ewan made his way up to the scaffold he tried to break free of all restraints. He almost threw

 In 1776 postman Robert Knowles was found guilty of stealing 2 bank notes from mail belonging to Robert Rankin (estimated to be worth around £50). Robert was placed in jail but complained he wasn't feeling very well and the guard allowed him to sit in the cell without any chains. Later that night the guard noticed a large bundle lying on the floor and opened the cell to check what the bundle was. Knowles slipped behind the guard and escaped by blocking the door. He was captured a few days later and sentanced to hang. Knowles acknowledged the justness of his sentance before he was hanged at Newcastle Town Moor.