Capital Punishment in the 1700s: Women Burned at the Stake

If you committed murder in 1755 you were dealt with severely. However, the punishment for the crime was not always the same for a man as it was for a woman.

notice of a 1755 execution in Massachusetts, Evening Post newspaper article 22 September 1755
Evening Post (Boston, Massachusetts), 22 September 1755, page 4

In this article from an old 1700s newspaper, we learn that a man and a woman servant were found guilty of the murder of their master. The woman was burned at the stake for the crime.

Meanwhile the man was hanged on the gallows, and then later his body was hung in the town square by a chain.

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