LIFE AND CONFESSION OF SOPHIA HAMILTON, WHO WAS TRIED, CONDEMNED AND SENTENCED TO BE HUNG, AT MONTREAL, L. C. ON THE 4TH OF AUGUST, 1845, FOR THE PERPETRATION OF THE MOST SHOCKING MURDERS AND DARING ROBBERIES PERHAPS RECORDED IN THE ANNALS OF CRIME. [Illustration] CAREFULLY SELECTED BY THE AUTHOR, WILLIAM H. JACKSON. MONTREAL, L. C. PRINTED FOR THE PUBLISHER 1845. [Illustration: THE ROAD OBSTRUCTED, AND THE TRAVELLERS MURDERED. p. 12.] LIFE AND CONFESSION OF SOPHIA HAMILTON. It has probably never fallen to the lot of man to record a list of more cruel, heart-rending, atrocious, cold-blooded murders and daring robberies than have been perpetrated by the subjects of this narrative, and that too in the midst of a highly civilized and Christian community; deeds too, which, for the depravity of every human feeling, seem scarcely to have found a parallel in the annals of crime. And it seems doubly shocking and atrocious when we find them perpetrated by one of the female sex, which sex has always and in all countries been esteemed as having a higher regard for virtue, and far greater aversion to acts of barbarity, even in the most vitiated, than is generally found in men of the same class. We may truly say that the annals of history have never unfolded to the world a greater instance of human depravity and utter disregard of every virtuous feeling which should inhabit the human breast, than the one it becomes our painful duty to lay before our readers in the account of Sophia Hamilton, the subject of this very interesting narrative. We deem it not unimportant to give a brief account of her parentage, in order that our numerous readers may see the source from which she sprung; as also the inestimable and intrinsic value of a moral education in youth, which is a gem of imperishable value, the loss of which many have had to deplore when perhaps too late. The public may depend on the authenticity of the facts here related, as it is from no less a source than a schoolmate of her ill-fated father. The author has spared no exertions to collect every minute and important particular relating to her extraordinary, though unfortunate career.