Read Online Maritime Murder by Steve Vernon - Free Book Online Page B

returned with their verdict. The Boutilier brothers were declared guilty.
    â€œMr. Sheriff, let the prisoners be carried back to their cell and taken care of,” Chief Justice Strange instructed. “For their lives are forfeited; and let them be brought up again tomorrow morning at ten to receive their sentence.”
    One day later, on the morning of Thursday, May 5 , 1791 , John and George Boutilier stood before the judge one more time to hear their sentence.
    â€œMurder is a stain upon human dignity,” Chief Justice Strange said. “A stain that needs to be removed. Those who commit murder must be made examples of, in the hope of deterring others in such crimes.” The crowd waited expectantly.
    â€œTherefore, I decree that four days from now, on May 9 , 1791 , George Frederick Boutilier and John Boutilier be conveyed to the house of the late Frederick Eminaud, or as near to that place as conveniently may be. There, each of you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead.”

The Execution
    On the second day, the brothers broke down and confessed their guilt to a local reverend, not wanting to take it to the gallows with them.
    â€œIt was all my idea,” John admitted.
    â€œI readily agreed to it,” George added. “John did not force me to my deeds. We had been talking about our plan for a couple of months. We just wanted a little money, was all.”
    On the morning of May 9 , the two brothers were marched to Gallows Hill—in an area where there now stands a tool shed owned by the illustrious Lunenburg Academy—from where they could look down and see the burned remnants of old Eminaud’s cabin.
    The crowd stood on the lower stretch of the hill in oddly respectful silence. The brothers were also silent. They kept their heads bowed as if in prayer, only raising them the once to allow the customary black hoods to be placed over their heads. The nooses were tightened appropriately about their necks. When the trap door opened, the two brothers fell without a sound, only twitching a few times as they strangled.
    After the passing of an hour, the bodies were cut down and taken by wagon to the Boutilier farm. They were buried in an apple orchard where the two brothers had once played as small children.

A crime of cold passion
    Peter Wheeler
Bear River, Nova Scotia
1896

    J ust a short sixteen kilometres north of Digby lies the little town of Bear River. In 1896 , Bear River was a small but thriving community of about 1 , 200 residents, with a half dozen lumber mills supplying the needs of a half dozen shipyards. The river itself marks the boundary between the Annapolis and Digby Counties of Nova Scotia. In fact, the village of Bear River is placed in such a fashion that half of the village lies in one county while the other half is in the other.
    Bear River was also the home of Peter Wheeler—and the home of a murder tale that the people in Bear River still talk about to this very day.

Arriving in Bear River
    Peter David Wheeler had originally served as a cabin boy on a ship that had sailed from Grenock, Scotland. He was fifteen years old, and had signed aboard with a hunger for adventure and strange sights. His parents had passed away while he was very young, and he had no ties to hold him back.
    By the time he reached Digby, however, he had come to the inescapable conclusion that he was absolutely terrified of the sea. So he decided it was time for desertion. He stepped off the ship at about two o’clock in the morning and walked away.
    A few hours later, on the Sissiboo Road, Peter met Isaac Kempton, a local logger who had lost his leg in a lumbering accident several years prior. Isaac decided to hire Peter as a day labourer.
    â€œI don’t want to work on the sea anymore,” Peter told Kempton. “The thought of that deep drop, it scares me. Just thinking of falling forever, floating away, my breath stolen and bones drifting in the tide…I need to