Friday, October 1, 2010

Execution in America - Happy Anniversary!

The Captain is a day late in passing on this news and regrets his tardiness.

Profile America — Thursday, September 30th. The first execution in young America occurred on this date in 1630 at Plymouth Colony, with the hanging of John Billington. He sailed to America aboard the Mayflower and was a signer of the Mayflower Compact. His execution followed a jury trial which found him guilty of the shooting death of fellow colonist John Newcomen, after a heated argument over hunting rights. Billington had a record of problems with the authorities, even on the voyage of the Mayflower.

The U.S. ranks 4th overall in the total number of executions per year, behind China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Pakistan is 5th. That's some fine company we're keeping!

[allvoices.com]

2 comments:

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  2. All well and fine but it IS a day late, Cappy, so you lose credit for this. Otherwise, nice job.

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