PERSONS SENTENCED to DEATH in CANADA, 1867-1976: An
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1 PERSONS SENTENCED TO DEATH IN CANADA, 1867-1976: An Inventory of Case Files in the Fonds of the Department of Justice Lorraine GADOURY and Antonio LECHASSEUR Government Archives Division National Archives of Canada 2 This reference tool is intended for research use. It may be reproduced, except for sale or advertising purposes, provided credit is given to the National Archives of Canada, and to the authors. Access to records described in this reference tool is governed by the provisions of the Access to Information and Privacy Acts and regulations made pursuant to the legislation. Cet ouvrage de référence est disponible en français. 8 National Archives of Canada, 1994 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................3 Abbreviations...................................................................................................................................4 Introduction......................................................................................................................................5 Index of sentences by year...............................................................................................................7 Index of sentences by province......................................................................................................11 Index of the victims .......................................................................................................................13 Index of women sentenced to death...............................................................................................26 Index of the fate of those sentenced to death.................................................................................27 Index by file numbers ....................................................................................................................30 Alphabetical inventory of persons sentenced ................................................................................41 4 ABBREVIATIONS Alta. Alberta B.C. British Columbia Man. Manitoba Nfld. Newfoundland N.B. New Brunswick N.S. Nova Scotia N.W.T. Northwest Territories Ont. Ontario O. in C. Order-in-council Pen. Penitentiary PC Privy Council P.E.I. Prince Edward Island Que. Quebec Sask. Saskatchewan 5 INTRODUCTION This reference tool relating to persons sentenced to death in Canada covers the period from Confederation to the abolition of the death penalty in 1976. The files described in the main body of the volume (the alphabetical inventory) concern all the persons who were condemned to a death sentence after they underwent trial for murder (for the earlier period, there are also some cases of rape, high treason or burglary). In all of these cases, the condemned person's file had to be transferred to the Department of Justice so that the Governor General could decide whether to allow the execution to take place or to commute the sentence. Therefore these files, which contain transcripts of evidence, petitions, letters from the public, reports and recommendations from different authorities, are kept in the fonds of the Department of Justice at the National Archives of Canada. This inventory was created from a data base which contained information pertaining to the criminal (alias, sex, age, nationality, occupation or profession, marital status), the crime (date, place, victim(s), method used and motive), the trial (date, place, name of the court and the judge, recommendation of mercy) and the final disposition of each case - that is, the reference for the order-in-council in which the governmental decision was recorded, and details about the execution or the commutation of the sentence. The exact reference of each file in the National Archives is given, as well as a list of the type of documents in the file. It must be noted that the information given here on any particular case is based solely on what is found in the file and that supplementary research in secondary sources has not been undertaken. This explains why the entry on Louis Riel is not detailed; although we know a great deal about this case, the file itself is not loquacious in nature. The indexes that follow the alphabetical inventory can be very useful in answering specific questions: how many cases arose by year or by province, how many persons sentenced were executed, how many saw their sentence commuted, how many women were sentenced to death and how many were in fact hanged? An index of the names of the victims can also help to retrace a particular case when this is the only information available. We are particularly indebted to our colleague James M. Whalen who kindly undertook to revise the English version of this finding aid and to provide us with judicious advice. We thank him for the considerable effort he has made in this endeavour. Lorraine GADOURY Archivist Antonio LECHASSEUR Chief, State and Military Records INDEXES 7 INDEX OF SENTENCES BY YEAR 1867 0022, 0099, 0146, 0326, 0477, 0647, 1434 1886 1868 0011, 0294, 0365, 0491, 0831, 0861 0006, 0204, 0327, 0596, 0657, 0917, 0966, 1069, 1887 1070, 1192, 1266, 1467, 1497 0007, 0008, 0497, 0768, 0874, 1240 1869 1888 0923, 1106, 1135 0421, 0457, 0466, 0658, 0678, 0940, 1000, 1010, 1870 1118, 1137, 1406, 1456 0184, 0351, 0511, 0532, 0835, 0872, 0928, 0972, 1889 1090, 1273 0242, 0567, 0906 1871 1890 0061, 0067, 0132, 0138, 0265, 0601, 0621, 0638, 0130, 0137, 0344, 0345, 0393, 0668, 0741, 0960, 0682, 0683, 0782, 0882, 1089 1271, 1295, 1334 1872 1891 0096, 0131, 0207, 0233, 0322, 0644, 0660, 0886, 0415, 0666, 0750, 1055 0997, 1083, 1136, 1148, 1230, 1297, 1383, 1392, 1892 1488 0789, 1028, 1030, 1207, 1263, 1287, 1366 1873 1893 0044, 0223, 0448, 0574, 0648, 0826, 1004, 1036, 0763, 0806, 1328, 1424 1404, 1405, 1442, 1499 1894 1874 0331, 0590, 0627, 0805, 0814, 0916, 1078, 1403, 0436, 0464, 0496, 0778, 0779, 0937, 1117, 1132, 1465 1220, 1224, 1272, 1330, 1390 1895 1875 0249, 0581, 0667, 1243, 1433, 1459 0339, 0340, 0357, 0517, 0602, 0659, 0706, 0827, 1896 0890, 0909, 0912, 1165, 1177, 1292, 1471 0176, 0553, 0676, 1119, 1466 1876 1897 0015, 0092, 0545, 0867, 0891, 0896, 0897, 0910, 0025, 0335, 0337, 1040, 1318, 1331, 1498 0915, 1022, 1198, 1283, 1377, 1446, 1517, 1518 1898 1877 0187, 0272, 0387, 0531, 0551, 0582, 0836, 0985, 0027, 0028, 0613, 1267, 1483 0986, 0987, 0988, 1017, 1123, 1208, 1400, 1431 1878 1899 0195, 0304, 0385, 0423, 0632, 0821, 0877, 1237, 0136, 0186, 0227, 0330, 0412, 0537, 1048, 1049, 1422, 1447, 1468 1051, 1073, 1201, 1323 1879 1900 0042, 0181, 0593, 0662, 0681, 0973, 1374, 1504 0164, 0235, 0390, 0687, 0963, 1064, 1265, 1480, 1880 1510 0101, 0219, 0356, 0516, 0558, 0732, 0900, 0901, 1901 0902, 0943, 1280, 1372 0282, 0735, 0745, 0790, 1019, 1157, 1303 1881 1902 0188, 0573, 0736, 0958, 0990, 0991, 1122 0010, 0192, 0297, 0447, 0503, 0556, 0588, 0731, 1882 0776, 1044, 1180, 1206 0013, 0767, 0842, 1023, 1079, 1159, 1188, 1418 1903 1883 0009, 0047, 0065, 0224, 0226, 0454, 0505, 0535, 0240, 0520, 0557, 0612, 0739, 0837, 0865, 0934, 0798, 0825, 0856, 1203 0939, 1319, 1320 1904 1884 0091, 0098, 0203, 0246, 0446, 0473, 0485, 0508, 0165, 0166, 0539, 0777, 0801, 1086, 1169, 1178, 0510, 0598, 0674, 0847, 1031, 1080, 1174, 1262 1333, 1362, 1382, 1482 1905 1885 0102, 0251, 0386, 0688, 0699, 0738, 1519 0034, 0295, 0395, 0407, 0418, 0619, 0695, 0832, 1906 0950, 0981, 1039, 1043, 1161, 1236, 1247, 1302, 0081, 0410, 0426, 0490, 0823, 0871, 1312 1354, 1369, 1440, 1455 1907 8 0168, 0211, 0283, 0334, 0434, 0509, 0689, 0822, 1335, 0976, 1046, 1060, 1128, 1186, 1195 1516 1922 1908 0057, 0071, 0122, 0140, 0179, 0329, 0342, 0353, 0364, 0069, 0236, 0319, 0411, 0518, 0637, 0765, 0824, 0936, 0450, 0463, 0526, 0561, 0752, 0979, 1088, 1162, 1167, 1056, 1074, 1126, 1176, 1269, 1360 1172, 1191, 1255, 1339, 1371, 1378, 1490 1909 1923 0037, 0039, 0070, 0141, 0254, 0377, 0646, 1095, 1173, 0017, 0049, 0261, 0311, 0384, 0391, 0614, 0643, 0704, 1185, 1199, 1234, 1296, 1316, 1341, 1367, 1441, 1514, 0853, 0969, 1305, 1309, 1322, 1352, 1475 1529 1924 1910 0120, 0202, 0256, 0280, 0302, 0332, 0343, 0449, 0452, 0024, 0074, 0128, 0210, 0255, 0383, 0544, 0583, 0625, 0465, 0554, 0591, 0622, 0883, 0959, 0974, 1063, 1235, 0692, 0799, 0899, 0911, 0931, 1047, 1182, 1425, 1457 1353, 1389, 1391, 1414, 1470, 1481 1911 1925 0012, 0222, 0438, 0504, 0523, 0599, 0624, 0634, 0641, 0032, 0038, 0053, 0108, 0285, 0399, 0703, 0708, 0860, 0642, 0989, 1099, 1146, 1168, 1361, 1395, 1486 0933, 0961, 0995, 1094, 1289, 1313, 1452, 1469, 1479, 1912 1508 0076, 0077, 0106, 0123, 0217, 0323, 0409, 0413, 0419, 1926 0428, 0468, 0487, 0513, 0633, 0697, 0711, 0812, 0880, 0073, 0152, 0355, 0552, 0587, 1050, 1127, 1212, 1300, 0884, 1114, 1140, 1149, 1274, 1325, 1348, 1379, 1476, 1398 1507, 1513 1927 1913 0052, 0124, 0194, 0382, 0435, 0480, 0656, 0756, 0866, 0029, 0041, 0062, 0209, 0234, 0269, 0284, 0328, 0341, 0870, 0876, 0878, 0894, 0930, 1002, 1221, 1511 0506, 0550, 0640, 0713, 0717, 0800, 0815, 0971, 1108, 1928 1144, 1213, 1286, 1298, 1356, 1438, 1454 0196, 0239, 0359, 0360, 0362, 0458, 0488, 0540, 0629, 1914 0663, 0784, 0804, 0975, 1021, 1029, 1035, 1156, 1396, 0112, 0118, 0167, 0175, 0238, 0296, 0347, 0348, 0389, 1484 0519, 0555, 0569, 0572, 0623, 0707, 0720, 0829, 0834, 1929 0852, 0854, 0862, 0951, 1032, 1112, 1141, 1218, 1254, 0064, 0086, 0125, 0150, 0153, 0220, 0559, 0626, 0724, 1268, 1285, 1336, 1417 0748, 0770, 0921, 0925, 0926, 0932, 0978, 0994, 1115, 1915 1124, 1155, 1387, 1462 0023, 0035, 0058, 0228, 0267, 0275, 0314, 0374, 0498,