''New Haven v. Thomas Hogg'' was a criminal case which took place in
New Haven Colony in 1647. Hogg was accused of
bestiality when a neighbourhood
sow gave birth to piglets that allegedly resembled him. Unlike several men and boys convicted of the crime and consequently hanged in the 1640s and ensuing decades, Hogg refused to confess, thus avoiding the
death penalty
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 ...
. Called "the most interesting buggery case" ever, it left an enduring mark in the history of capital punishment.
Background
Thomas Hogg was a servant from
New Haven Colony, where the one-eyed
George Spencer was coerced into confessing to
sodomy
Sodomy () or buggery (British English) is generally anal or oral sex between people, or sexual activity between a person and a non-human animal ( bestiality), but it may also mean any non- procreative sexual activity. Originally, the term ''sodo ...
after a sow gave birth to a deformed one-eyed piglet, which led to his
wrongful execution
Wrongful execution is a miscarriage of justice occurring when an innocent person is put to death by capital punishment. Cases of wrongful execution are cited as an argument by opponents of capital punishment, while proponents say that the argum ...
in early April 1642. Spencer was posthumously
pardon
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
ed of the conviction in 2015.
Like Spencer, Hogg did not enjoy a good reputation. He was considered a liar and a thief, and his appearance offended his neighbours.
Women of various social positions, including a
slavewoman named Lucretia, reported his
indecency
Inappropriateness refers to standards or ethics that are typically viewed as being negative in a society. It differs from things that are illicit in that inappropriate behavior does not necessarily have any accompanying legal ramifications.
Co ...
, as he allowed his "filthy nakedness" (penis and scrotum) to show through his
breeches. Hogg, who suffered from a painful
inguinal hernia
An inguinal hernia is a hernia (protrusion) of abdominal-cavity contents through the inguinal canal. Symptoms, which may include pain or discomfort especially with or following coughing, exercise, or bowel movements, are absent in about a third ...
, argued that his indecency was not intentional.
Charges
Five years after Spencer's execution, Hogg was implicated in what was described by
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...
history professor Charles O. Jackson as "the most interesting buggery case" ever.
He was already awaiting trial for theft, dishonesty and indecent exposure when he was brought up on charges of
bestiality,
after a sow gave birth to two piglets that allegedly resembled him.
Hogg's mistress, Mrs. Lamberton, found the birth to be a sign from God, and told the authorities that one of the "monsters" had "a fair and white skinned and head, as Thomas Hogg is",
and the other "a head like a child's and one eye like him, the bigger on the right side, as if God would describe the party, with the description of the instrument of bestyalie."
, governor of the colony, and his deputy brought Hogg to a barnyard where the crime was supposed to have taken place. They ordered him to scratch the sow under her ear,
after which "there appeared a working of lust in the sow, insomuch that she powred out seede before them."
Hogg was then ordered to scratch another sow, but she was not stimulated.
The governor and deputy governor were frustrated that, despite their experiment, Hogg denied the charges. Without the confession, the "impudent liar" could not be hanged
because the requirement of two witnesses could not be met.
Instead, he was convicted of lying and stealing,
for which he was severely whipped and incarcerated.
While imprisoned, Hogg was kept on a "mean diet and hard labor, that his lusts not be fed."
Aftermath
The situation left a permanent mark on capital punishment jurisprudence.
Hogg appears again in court records in 1648, when he was admonished for failing to appear for guard duty.
References
External links
In early America, farm animals took the blame for zoophilic sex.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hogg, Thomas
1647 in law
1647 in the Thirteen Colonies
Legal history of Connecticut
New England Puritanism
Connecticut Colony
Sex crime trials
Trials in the United States
Zoophilia