This week in 1733

“. . . And now I have forsaken God, he has forsaken me,
and I acknowledge he has been just in leaving me, for
that I have gone from bad to worse, till for my sins I am
now to die. . . . whereas I have been charged with and
tried for burning my master’s barn, I now declare as a
dying man that I did not do it. . . . I acknowledge I deserve
to die, and would confess especially my drunkenness
and Sabbath- breaking, which have led me to this
great Sin for which I now die.”

—Julian, convicted of murder, hanging, Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Executed March 22, 1733

Julian, slave of John Rogers of Pembroke, confessed to killing his
master but denied accusations of burning his master’s barn. When
Julian fled authorities, a reward was posted, and a bounty hunter
captured him. On the way to returning Julian, his captor stopped to
eat, leaving the runaway slave standing outside the diner. He again
fled, and when the chase led into a neighboring cornfield, Julian
stabbed the bounty hunter. Shortly thereafter he was captured and
hanged.

Julian may have been John Julian, pilot of the pirate ship Whydah.