The Melady Murders: Canada’s Last Public Hanging

Episode 403: Nicholas Melady Jr. was 24 years old when he stepped onto a wooden scaffold above the stone walls of Goderich Gaol in December of 1869, about to become the central figure in Canada’s last public hanging after the brutal murders of his father, Nicholas Melady Sr. and stepmother, Ellen, in a quiet Huron County farmhouse. In this episode, we return to a world of bush farms, rough taverns, and bitter family feuds over land and inheritance, tracing a path from a whispered meeting on a bridge and talk of “just a robbery” to a blood‑soaked kitchen floor, sloppy police work, and a coroner making two young men stand barefoot in dried pools of blood.

Sources:

Double Trap by John Melady
Seaforth Doors Open | shopseaforth.ca
Audio-Tour-of-North-Street | goderich.ca
Huron Historic Gaol
‘Morbid curiosity’: When executions were public spectacles in Ontario | TVO Today
Mar 27, 1869, page 1 - The Globe and Mail at Newspapers.com™
Apr 02, 1869, page 3 - Ottawa Daily Citizen at Newspapers.com™
Dec 08, 1869, page 4 - The Critic and Record at Newspapers.com™
Dec 09, 1869, page 4 - Buffalo Courier Express at Newspapers.com™
Dec 17, 1869, page 1 - Brampton Times at Newspapers.com™
Dec 07, 1869, page 3 - Boston Evening Transcript at Newspapers.com™
Carling R. Marshall ~ Public History Blog: Semi-public? - The Hoag Hanging, Walkerton - 1868
Carling R. Marshall - Capital punishment: Huron County opinion in 1869
Nicholas Melady | Wikipedia
1869: Nicholas Melady, the last public hanging in Canada | Executed Today
Researching Canada’s ‘Last Public Hanging | Huron County Museum
The Final Days of Nicholas Melady Jr. as Witnessed by William Dickson - Champlain Society

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