11-R271
2011 -- H 5068
Enacted 05/11/11
H
O U S E R E S O L U T I O N
MEMORIALIZING
THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF
TO
PARDON JOHN GORDON
Introduced By:
Representatives Martin, McNamara, Flaherty, Edwards, and McCauley
Date Introduced:
January 19, 2011
WHEREAS, On New Year’s
Eve in 1843, Amasa Sprague, a Yankee factory owner,
was
beaten to death. He had been bludgeoned so brutally that his
face was barely recognizable; and
WHEREAS, At the time,
hatred. Local Yankees, who had maintained tight control on
industry and politics in the state, felt
unjustifiably threatened by the Irish Roman Catholics, who were the
first group to immigrate to
WHEREAS, The Spragues were wealthy and powerful, and held posts such as
governor
and
WHEREAS,
The Gordon brothers, Irish immigrants, ran a store and tavern. Authorities
maintained the Gordons plotted to do
away with Amasa, after he engineered the suspension
of
Nicholas’s liquor license, to curb drinking by Sprague
factory workers; and
WHEREAS, Anti-immigrant
emotions inflamed the case, and after a trial based solely on
circumstantial evidence and false testimony, John Gordon was found
guilty of murder in the
shooting and bludgeoning death of Mr. Sprague; and
WHEREAS, On Valentine’s
Day, February 14th of 1845, John Gordon was hanged for a
murder he did not commit. He became the last man to be
executed in the state. Seven years after
his death,
WHEREAS, The conviction and subsequent hanging of John Gordon was
racially
motivated and discriminatory and stands as a black mark on our
great state’s judicial history;
now, therefore be it
RESOLVED,
That this House of Representatives of the State of
Providence Plantations
hereby requests The Honorable Lincoln Chafee,
Governor of the State of
be it further
RESOLVED,
That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is
authorized and directed to
transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to The
Honorable Lincoln Chafee, Governor of
the State of
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LC00278
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