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 CrimeJackson, William H.
History
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
Jackson, William H.
Canada -- Fiction; Murder -- Fiction
in my charge until morning. Six weeks after this, I murdered two
emigrants, on their way from Montreal to New York. Finding that they had
considerable money, as they inquired about the currency of English gold
in the States, I inquired how much they had; they showed it to me, and I
told them that it was generally too light. I then put them to sleep in a
room adapted for such persons, and in the night we entered by means of a
slide door which was for the purpose, where we found them asleep. Each
of us were armed, but we found no resistance; we soon committed them to
eternity. Their bodies we buried in the wood-house, and found £400, in
gold, in their bed; we then divided the spoil. Their names I never knew.
And last of all, I assisted to murder Morse, the Quaker, from New York,
while boarding at my house. I am guilty of ten deliberate murders with
my own hands, and accessory to many more. I will not confess any more,
for I do not, nor cannot, expect forgiveness; for I already feel the
wrath of an avenging God, searing my very soul,--for my crimes are too
black, my deeds too heinous, to expect to reign in happiness with those
innocent beings that I caused to leave the world by my cruel treachery;
the tears of the bereaved widows, and the cries of the helpless orphans,
will speak with tongues of indignation against me.
She here made another attempt to rise, but in vain. She then laid down
for a little time quite still and motionless, but was again seized with
another fit of despair. Placing her eyes fast on the object of her
consolation, in the most terrific and agonizing cries, she exclaimed,
that she now "felt the pains of hell searing her very soul!"
. . . . . . .
The turnkey now came in, and assisted to support her. For some time she
remained in most exquisite anguish, until she at last sunk back on her
pillow, weak and exhausted, and her immortal spirit winged its way, to
appear before its eternal Judge, there to answer for the deeds committed
in the body, and we hope will, or has, found more favor and mercy, than
she did from the human tribunal, which sentenced her to die, according
to the civil law, which I hope will still continue to be rightly and
justly administered, because on its administration depends our safety
and happiness, as well as civil and religious liberties.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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