Dominic Daly (1770 – June 5, 1806) was an Irishman who immigrated to America some time around 1800, and was executed for murder, in what has widely been believed to be a miscarriage of justice. The date of Daly's birth and arrival in the United States has been lost. It is known that he lived and worked in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. In November 1805, the body of a young farmer, Marcus Lyon, was found on the open road near town of

Wilbraham, Massachusetts Wilbraham is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb of the City of Springfield, and part of the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,613 at the 2020 census. Part of the town comprises ...

. Daly and a fellow Irishman, James Halligan, were traveling in the area at the time, heading for

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

, when they were arrested for the murder on November 12, 1805, in Northampton, Massachusetts, for which their captor was paid $500. The pair protested their innocence, but were held in prison for nearly five months, being charged with

highway robbery A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to fo ...

from the assault of Lyon. Despite their long confinement, they were granted defense attorneys only 48 hours before their trial. Once the trial for '' Commonwealth v. Dominic Daley and James Halligan'' began, they were convicted within minutes, under such flimsy evidence that one of the defense attorneys was led to declare that it was based simply on outright bigotry. At their request, the Rev.

Jean-Louis Lefebvre de Cheverus Jean-Louis Anne Madelain Lefebvre de Cheverus (also known as John Cheverus) (28 January 1768 – 19 July 1836) was a French Roman Catholic bishop and later cardinal. He was the first Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boston, Massachusetts ...

, the Catholic

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

of Boston, went at great personal risk to assist them in their last moments. He celebrated a Catholic

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

for them in their prison cell. This is believed to have been the first time a Catholic service had taken place in the town. The next day, an estimated 15,000 people viewed the execution on June 5, 1806. The two Irishmen publicly forgave their accusers and the prosecutors of the case. They were then hanged. On St. Patrick's Day 1984, Governor

Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history a ...

of Massachusetts issued a proclamation exonerating Daley and Halligan.See Historic Northampton
/ref>

References

External links

The National Registry of Exonerations
* Exoneration profiles a
The Innocence Project
1770 births 1806 deaths 18th-century Irish people 19th-century Irish people Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) People from Boston Irish people executed abroad 19th-century executions of American people American people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Massachusetts People executed by Massachusetts by hanging 19th-century executions by the United States People executed for murder Executed Irish people Burials in Massachusetts Recipients of American gubernatorial pardons People wrongfully convicted of murder Wrongful executions 1805 murders in the United States {{Crime-bio-stub

See also

References

External links