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A dozen years before the Black Donnellys were butchered at Lucan, Ontario, another murderous rampage took place a few miles away. On June 6, 1868, three men robbed and killed a rich farmer, his wife, and her unborn child. They concocted an alibi, stuck to it, and almost got off. In fact, two of them did.
The third, Nicholas Melady, went to prison and fell in love with a beautiful woman in a nearby cell. There to entrap him, she listened, learned, and led him to the gallows. When he was hanged in Goderich, hundreds watched, but thousands were late for the spectacle. They were bitterly disappointed because they had missed the last public hanging in Canada.
"John Melady is a gifted story teller, who has offered an interesting glimpse into his family history, and in doing so, allows the reader to see the complexities of the law, and justice in another time and place, very close to our own surroundings in Ontario."
RATING: 4 BOOKMARKS
Joan Sutter, Shelf Life, Spring 2006
"John Melady has turned his family skeleton into an absorbing mix of social history and true-crime thriller."
John Melady is a former high school vice-principal and author of several books, including Heartbreak and Heroism: Canadian Search and Rescue Stories, published by Dundurn Press. His book Acts of Courage was shortlisted for the Hackmatack Award in Atlantic Canada, and Korea: Canada's Forgotten War was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection.