Arthur Lucas (December 18, 1907 - December 11, 1962), originally from the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, was one of the last two people to be executed in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, on 11 December 1962. Lucas had been convicted of the

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

of 44-year-old Therland Crater, a drug dealer and police informant from

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. He is also assumed to have killed 20-year-old Carolyn Ann Newman, Crater's common-law wife, but was never tried in her death. Crater was shot four times, while Newman was nearly decapitated. The murders took place in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

on 17 November 1961. A ring belonging to Lucas was found in a pool of Newman's blood. When Lucas was arrested, he was found to have recently cut his nails, and blood was found underneath one of them. He also had gunpowder imbedded in his hand. There were bloodstains found in Lucas's car which matched that of Crater and Newman. Lucas, along with fellow prisoner

Ronald Turpin On 11 December 1962, Ronald Turpin was one of the two last people to be executed in Canada. Turpin had been convicted of the murder of Metropolitan Toronto police officer Frederick Nash, 31. On 12 February 1962, Nash pulled Turpin over for a br ...

, was executed at the Toronto (Don) Jail by

hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...

, the only form of civilian

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

ever used in post-Confederation Canada, although the military employed execution by

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...

. In 1976, capital punishment for murder was removed from Canada's

Criminal Code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that migh ...

, but could still be used under the

National Defence Act The ''National Defence Act'' (NDA; ; ''LDN'') is an Act of the Parliament of Canada, which is the primary enabling legislation for organizing and funding the military of Canada. The Act created the Department of National Defence, which merged th ...

until 1998.

Chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

Cyrill Everitt attended the double hanging and in 1986, shortly before his death, he revealed that Lucas's head was "torn right off" because the hangman had miscalculated the man's weight and that his head was hanging "by the

sinews A tendon or sinew is a tough, high-tensile-strength band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. It is able to transmit the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system without sacrificing its ability ...

of his neck". Lucas maintained his innocence, but said he was at peace with his punishment. He told Everitt that he had done many terrible things in his life and it was finally catching up with him.

References

1907 births 1962 deaths People from Daytona Beach, Florida People executed for murder American people convicted of murdering police officers People executed by Canada by hanging American people executed abroad American emigrants to Canada People convicted of murder by Canada 20th-century executions of American people 20th-century African-American people {{Canada-crime-bio-stub