11-R386

2011 -- S 0371 SUBSTITUTE A

Enacted 06/22/11

S E N A T E R E S O L U T I O N

MEMORIALIZING THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

TO PARDON JOHN GORDON

Introduced By: Senators McCaffrey, and Lynch

Date Introduced: February 16, 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, Rhode Island was rife with anti-immigration hysteria and

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

Rhode Island in large numbers; and

     WHEREAS, The Spragues were wealthy and powerful, and held posts such as governor

and United States senator. Amasa Sprague oversaw the family’s textile empire; 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, Rhode Island abolished the death penalty; and

     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 Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

hereby requests The Honorable Lincoln Chafee, Governor of the State of Rhode Island, to

posthumously pardon John Gordon for the 1843 murder of Amasa Sprague; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That should the governor pardon John Gordon, then the passage of this

resolution by the Senate shall be deemed to constitute its advice and consent of the pardon; and

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 Rhode Island.

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LC00655/SUB A

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