Until
1817, public hangings took place at the Common. In fact, hangings at the Common
were declared general holidays attracting great crowds.[1]
William
Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, were two Quakers who had been exiled and who
defied the law by returning to Boston. They were hanged on October 27, 1659. As
they walk towards the garrote, Mary Dyer was with them on their last walk. One
year later Mary retraced her steps as she was hanged for the same reason. In
1661, William Ledra, also a Quaker was hanged for the same reason.[2]
Margaret
Jones, and Mistress Anne Hibbins, were also hanged at the Common for religious
reasons.
In
1656, Matoonas, an Algonquian Indian, was tied to a tree and shoot for
unspecified crimes against the settlers.
Duels,
popular at the time among young sons of good families, were fought at the
Common sometimes with insignificant consequences and sometimes with deadly
results. Captain Thomas Smart and John Boydell, is an example of an
insignificant duel with minor wounds that resulted in jail for both parties.
Some ten years later, on the evening of July 3, 1728, near
the powder-house, on the hill where the Soldier’s Monument now stands, Benjamin
Woodbridge and Henry Phillips confronted each other with fatal concequences.
Benjamin and Henry were two young gentlemen with a great future, whose
characters were of good report, and whose friends were numerous and powerful.
One of the duelists, Benjamin Woodbridge was a merchant in a partnership with
Mr. Jonathan Sewall, who was the nephew of old Chief Justice Sewall. Henry Phillips was connected
to Peter Faneuil, twenty-eight at the time and future benefactor of Faneuil
Hall, by way of his brother Gillam Phillips who had married Marie Faneuil
Peter’s sister.
Benjamin
and Henry had a fight at a tavern for reasons unknown and met at the Common to
engage in a duel where Woodbridge was pierced through the heart. A witness came
by and Henry begged for the man to stay and watch over Benjamin while a surgeon
could be found. The man left, he didn’t want to miss dinner and a desperate
Phillips left Woodbridge alone while he went for the doctor. When Henry came
back with the surgeon, Woodbridge’s body had been moved to Sewall’s house near
the Common. Henry was desperate and, not knowing that Benjamin had been moved
to Sewall’s house, went door to door trying to find Woodbridge woried that the
injuries were fatal.
Benjamin
died that night and, as a concequence, he has the disgrace to be the first
victim of a duel in Boston. While Henry had been trying to get a doctor, his
brother Gillam along with Peter Faneuil were arranging his safe passage to
France. The next day while Benjamin was interred at the Old Granary Burying
Ground, Henry traveled to France. The survivor, Henry Phillips, age twenty-two,
was received by Peter’s uncle Jean Faneuil in La Rochelle, France. Sadly, Henry
died about a year after on the twentieth of May, 1729, he died of loneliness
his heart broken by the events.[3]
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