Daniel Wilkinson (murderer)

{{Infobox criminal

| name = Daniel Wilkinson

| image_name =

| image_size =

| image_caption =

| birth_date = 1846

| birth_place = England, United Kingdom

| death_date = {{Death date|1885|11|21}} (aged 38)

| death_place = Maine State Prison, Thomaston, Maine, U.S.

| conviction = First degree murder
Burglary

| conviction_penalty = Death

| conviction_status = Executed

}}

Daniel Wilkinson (1846 – November 21, 1885{{Cite web |url=http://www.cityofbath.com/police_pages_area13.html?m_id=494&cat_id=13 |title=City of Bath: "Fallen Officer" |access-date=2008-11-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609021349/http://www.cityofbath.com/police_pages_area13.html?m_id=494&cat_id=13 |archive-date=2011-06-09 |url-status=dead }}) 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.

Early life

Wilkinson was born in England near London.{{Cite web |last=Bennett |first=Troy R. |date=2022-12-14 |title=Maine's final execution in 1885 didn't go so smoothly |url=http://www.bangordailynews.com/2022/12/14/news/portland/daniel-wilkinson-final-maine-execution-n6hjn1me0n/ |access-date=2025-06-05 |website=Bangor Daily News |language=en-US}} He came to the United States when he was 15. In 1866, he was sent to the Maine State Prison for burglary, and he was released from prison in 1872. he was sent to the Maine State prison for burglary, and completed his sentence in 1872. He has been reported as the son of an English clergyman, but this he denies, and says his parents are living, but that he has not heard from them for four years.{{Cite news |date=1885-11-20 |title=Wilkinson: last person to be executed in Maine; the night before his death |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-portland-daily-press-wilkinson-last/143229892/ |access-date=2025-06-05 |work=The Portland Daily Press |pages=1}}

Murder, trial, and execution

In the early morning hours of September 4, 1883, Wilkinson and his accomplice John Ewitt were caught attempting to break into the D.C. Gould Ship Chandlery and Provision Store in Bath. As Wilkinson and Ewitt were running away from one police officer, they collided with Constable William Lawrence. Wilkinson immediately shot Lawrence in the head with a .32 caliber revolver.

Wilkinson was arrested in Bangor, Maine less than a week after the incident and was charged with murder on September 11, 1883. It was discovered that Wilkinson was an escapee from the Maine State Prison. Ewitt had travelled to England; his extradition was never sought by Maine. Wilkinson's trial began in the Bath Superior Court on January 4, 1884. He was convicted by the jury of first degree murder on January 7, 1884, and sentenced to death by hanging.

The death sentence was carried out at the Maine State Prison in Thomaston on November 21, 1885. Wilkinson did not die instantly from the hanging but slowly died of strangulation. The nature of Wilkinson's death, which was similar to the executions of two other inmates the previous April, was used by anti-death penalty activists to argue that Maine should abolish the death penalty, which it did in 1887.

References

Dick Dooley, series of articles in Rockland Courier-Gazette, 1974-08-15, 1974-08-22, 1974-08-29
Edward Schriver, "Reluctant Hangman: The State of Maine and Capital Punishment, 1820-1887", New England Quarterly, vol. 63, no. 2 (Jun. 1990) pp. 271–287