December 28th 1874
Mr. W. P. Webb, the first person to be executed in Brandon.
Mr. William Webb was hung on December 28th, 1874 on the Gallows at the Brandon Gaol. In his confession he recalled he had an unhappy marriage. He had been arrested two years before accused of shooting his wife with a revolver, but she refused to prosecute. At that time a reporter described Mr. Webb, “of irritable disposition and with a careworn expression.”
Mr. and Mrs. Webb operated the Pacific Laundry, which was a domicile attached shed on First Street and Rosser Avenue, and when news of the murder was announced on the first of September, the neighbours stood outside the laundry and recounted stories of violent quarrels between the murder victim, a daughter of an English Archdeacon, and her husband whom she married contrary to her families wishes. Mr. and Mrs. William Webb had been drinking and were both a little inebriated when the murder took place.
In his confession at trial, Mr. Webb confessed to the Court, “My wife went out to fetch in one or two sheets from off the clothes line and was Scolding me as she went out, and while she was doing this, the awful thought came to me.
I got a cartridge and put it in the gun. She went on Scolding me as she came in, so I picked up the gun, and raised it. She said ‘Now Bill’ and began to scream, which was cut short after I fired.
I put the gun down and Billie came between us with his hands up saying, ‘Papa, Papa! What have you done?’ It was too late, as the Murder was complete.
A document read in court by the Chief Justice who told the accused “you stand convicted by your own statement,” and then passed sentence of death. It was only three months later that he paid the ultimate penalty. This was the first execution in Manitoba since 1874.
When the fatal hour arrived, Sheriff Clement cleared the corridors of the Goal. The procession of about fifty persons commenced at the third sounding of the gong, and slowly made their way to the scaffolding.
The first in line was the Sheriff followed by the reverend Flewelling of the Anglican Church. Behind him came the condemned prisoner, walking with a firm step, and gazing stolidly around at the crowd.
A Black Hood hid the Hangman’s face, and his identity has never been known. So three days after Christmas the condemned Washer man was hung from the neck until dead on a day that became a grim and solemn one for Brandon.
In a related case, Mr. Tom Booth was fined fifty dollars for selling liquor at the Court House during the Assizes.
Scores of residents, likely the spectators who attended the sessions, signed a locally circulated partition to have the levy remitted. Mr. Booth, who was a caterer, pleaded, “It has always been the custom to have beer on hand for the guests.”
Source: Daly House Museum Archives.
http://www.manitobasburiedhistory.com/?page_id=27