At 11:15 on this date in 1869, Patreick Whalen was hanged in Ottawa for the assassination of Thomas D’Arcy McGee. It was the last public hanging in Ottawa.
James Powell, in a post for the Historical Society of Ottawa, recounts that “Despite a driving snowstorm, people started to arrive at the prison at 9.00 to get a good view of the gallows.” An estimated quarter of Ottawa’s population gathered.
The snow continued. There are no official weather reports in Ottawa for the period. They started in 1872. From newspaper and diary entries, the 7 feet of snow that had fallen so far that winter was compacted so that it could be driven over. William Upton of Concession 2, Lot 5, R.F., Gloucester kept a diary where he mentioned cows getting stuck in the snow. Snow continued. Train travel from Ottawa to Toronto was disrupted by drifting snow and, later, by flooding as the snow began to melt.
For a deeper dive into weather and its impacts, come to my free online presentation, Rain-Soaked Roots: Weather Shaped the Lives of Our British Isles Ancestors, for BIFHSGO on Saturday.
Very nice tie in with your talk, John. Looking forward to it.
I still find it chilling people used to watch public executions as a form of entertainment.
Yes Teresa, the past is a foreign land.