Oscar Joseph Comery (July 1886 – February 18, 1916) was a Canadian-American chauffeur hanged in

Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua. The village of ...

for murdering his wife. Comery was born in Canada, the son of French Canadians Joseph Comery (also spelled Comire) and Celine Boisvert.''New Hampshire, Death and Disinterment Records, 1754-1947'' According to the ''Concord Evening Monitor'', Comery killed his wife on November 29, 1914. He was arrested on January 1, 1915, brought to trial on February 8, 1915, where he "pleaded guilty to murder in the first degree with the expectation that the court would sentence him to life imprisonment." On February 18, 1916, Comery was convicted of murdering his wife. He confessed to killing his wife by poisoning her with

strychnine Strychnine (, , US chiefly ) is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the eye ...

by replacing the quinine his wife normally took with the poison. An autopsy was performed and strychnine was determined to be the cause of death. He was hanged at 12:31 a.m. at the

New Hampshire State Prison New Hampshire State Prison for Men (NHSPM) is a New Hampshire Department of Corrections prison in New Hampshire, United States. Located in Concord, New Hampshire, it is equipped to accept maximum, medium, and minimum security prisoners. Opened in ...

on February 18, 1916 at the age of 34. Comery was the first of only three people executed by the state of New Hampshire in the 20th century. The other two were

Frederick Small Frederick Lincoln Small (1866 – January 15, 1918) was the convicted murderer of his wife, Florence Aileen Curry Small, in New Hampshire. Mr. and Mrs. Small took out a joint life insurance policy of $20,000 USD on March 16, 1916, from the ...

in 1918 and

Howard Long Howard Long (September 21, 1905 – July 14, 1939) was an American convicted murderer who was executed for the 1937 murder of 10-year-old Mark Neville Jensen in Gilford, New Hampshire. He was the last person to be executed by the state of New Ham ...

in 1939.

References

Executions in the U.S. 1608-1987: The Espy File (by state)
(

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) {{DEFAULTSORT:Comery, Oscar 1886 births 1916 deaths Canadian people convicted of murder American people executed for murder 20th-century executions by New Hampshire People executed by New Hampshire by hanging 20th-century executions of American people People convicted of murder by New Hampshire Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian people executed abroad

See also

References