Portland Neck: The Hanging of Thomas Bird [Paperback]

Product Description
This is an account of the first death sentence handed down by a U.S. District Court judge under the authority of the United States Constitution. Thomas Bird, 40, an Englishman, was tried for murder and piracy in Portland’s First Parish meeting house and was hung from a gallows at Bramhall Hill on June 25, 1790. The execution was carried out by U.S. Marshal Henry Dearborn, who would later be appointed Secretary of War by President Thomas Jefferson. Bird was convicted of murdering his master, John Connor, captain of the slave ship Mary, off the coast of Africa. The Mary’s crew then sailed to the coast of Maine. When captured by Portland’s Naval Officer, there were but four people aboard: Bird; Hans Hanson, 19, of Norway; Josiah Jackson, 32, of Newton, MA; and an African boy known only as Cuffey. Bird and Hanson were held in the Cumberland County Jail for nearly a year pending the organization of the U.S. Federal Court system. Jackson was immediately released and later testified for the prosecution. Hanson was charged with aiding and abetting in the death of Captain Connor and was acquitted. This book is based primarily on a handwritten record of the trial found in the National Archives, Waltham, Massachusetts. It includes a narrative of the Mary’s voyage from England, Connor’s murder, the crew’s capture, the trial, and Bird’s execution, as well as biographical sketches of key Maine figures involved, and a description of Portland at the time of the trial and execution.
About the Author
Jerry Genesio received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History summa cum laude from the University of Southern Maine. After 20 years in sales with Cutter Laboratories covering Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and 10 years as executive director of a non-traditional, humanitarian military veterans’ organization that he and his wife founded in 1985, he was employed as a Special Collections Assistant with the Portland Public Library, Portland, Maine, for the remainder of his working career retiring in 2003. He has written and published numerous newspaper and magazine articles and two books, including “Veterans for Peace: The First Decade”, and “Unseen Hazards That Threaten Hunters, Campers, and Hikers: What you should know about pathogens commonly found in wildlife”. Jerry lives with his wife, Judy, in Bridgton, Maine, and Wilmington, North Carolina.
Product Details

* Paperback: 142 pages
* Publisher: CreateSpace (May 27, 2010)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 1452825432
* ISBN-13: 978-1452825434
* Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches

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