An NYCHS Timeline
on
Executions by Hanging
in New York State

(Page 5: 1802 -1806)

With links to more information on selected cases.

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Can you fill any data gaps? Please e-mail webmaster Thomas C. McCarthy at NYCHS@nyc.rr.com

1802

A male slave, possibly named Fuller, was hanged for piosoning.*

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1806
A male Hispanic named Francisco Dos Santo, a sailor, was hanged March 28 for murder.*

The Hanging Tree of Washington Square Park.
A white male named John Banks, a laborer, was hanged in NYC July 11 for killing his wife, Margaret. Research so far has not established the place of execution, but it could well have been what is now Washington Square Park, near NYU. The site was used for executions in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Tradition holds that a tree at the park's northeast corner was used that purpose until 1819; thus its name: "The Hanging Elm."

Banks, originally from Austrian Flanders, struck his wife on the head with a fire-shovel and then slit her throat. Under questioning, he complained that he often found his wife drunk, that she was lazy and that she failed to have meals ready even when asked and given time to prepare them.

As was a common practice in that era, a booklet about the case was rushed into print and promoted as providing "a full and particular narrative" including Bank's "confession, voluntarily made by himself, in the presence of his editor, attended by one of his keepers, who (if required) will testify to its truth."

A white male named Jesse Wood of Poughkeepsie was hanged Dec. 5 for killing his son.


1803

A male slave named Cato aka Mount was hanged April 22 for rape and murder.*

1804

A male named David Williams was hanged Aug. 27. No data on crime, age, occupation, race etc.*
1805 A male named Peter Shaver was hanged July 19. No data on crime, age, occupation, race etc.*

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Back to Page 2: 1785 - 1791
Back to Page 3: 1792 - 1794
Back to Page 4: 1795 - 1801
Forward to Page 6: 1807 - 1812
Forward to Page 7: 1813 - 1815
Forward to Page 8: 1816 - 1817
Forward to Page 9: 1818 - 1819
Forward to Page 10: 1820 - 1824

More 'Timeline on NYS Executions' under construction.

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