This week in 1788

“I now recommend my soul to the all merciful Creator of all Worlds and all Creatures, most ardently imploring the forgiveness, of may manifoldtransgressions, and that the redeemer would most graciously receive me to the arms of his everlasting mercy, when I leave the world.”

— Elisha Thomas, convicted of murder, hanging, New Hampshire.
Executed June 3, 1788

Thomas was headed to Portsmouth when he stopped by a friend’s house and went to have a few drinks with them. In a bar brawl, he killed—he insisted unintentionally—Peter Drowne, a friend who tried to intervene while Thomas was fighting another man. More than six thousand people showed up to see Thomas hang.