Overview

Between 1644 and 1885, 21 people were executed in Maine. Ten of these executions were carried out before statehood

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 (gained on March 15, 1820), and eleven after. Hanging

Hanging

Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...

 was the only method of execution.

All but two executed people were males. The first person executed in Maine, sometime in 1644, was Mrs. Cornish. Also, 23-year old Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 Patience Sampson was hanged on July 31, 1735.

Sixteen of executed were white, two were Native American, and three were African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

.

All but one of the death sentences actually carried out were imposed for murder

Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

. Only Jeremiah Baum, executed sometime in 1780, was put to death for treason

Treason

In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...

.

A 39-year old escaped convict, Daniel Wilkinson

Daniel Wilkinson (murderer)

Daniel Wilkinson was the last person to be executed by Maine. He was hanged for the murder of a police officer after a burglary in Bath, Maine....

, was the last person executed in Maine. He was hanged on November 21, 1885.

The death penalty in Maine was officially abolished in 1887 — just two years after Wilkinson's execution. Wilkinson slowly died of strangulation from a poorly tied hangman's noose, which was used as a reason by abolitionists to argue that the death penalty was inhumane.