Susan Newell
{{short description|Last woman to be hanged as punishment in Scotland}}
{{use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
Susan Newell (1893 – 10 October 1923) was the last woman to be hanged as capital punishment in Scotland. She was arrested after acting suspiciously and the discovery of the body of a 13-year-old newspaper boy, John Johnston. Although there were no witness accounts of him being killed, circumstantial evidence was presented at her trial. She was found guilty of his murder, a plea of insanity was rejected, and she was sentenced to death.
Background
Susan McAllister or Newell was from a poor background. She married and had a daughter, Janet McLeod, but was widowed when her husband was killed in World War I. By 1923 she had remarried, to John Newell, an ex-serviceman, now working as a Glasgow subway worker.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=h5dAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OKUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2051%2C7399096 |title=Boy's death. Coatbridge tragedy Newall remitted to the Sheriff. Funeral of the victim. |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=26 June 1923 |page=11 |access-date=1 March 2017}} The three lived in a rented room in Newlands Street, Coatbridge.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ifdYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QqUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5864%2C2182276 |title=Go-cart crime. Story of Coatbridge tragedy. Husband and wife on trial. Remarkable evidence by child witness. |work=The Glasgow Herald |pages=9–10 |date=19 September 1923 |access-date=1 March 2017}}
John Johnston had left his house on the afternoon of 20 June and had not returned. Another boy had met him at 6PM and given him nine papers to sell. The following day Newell and her daughter set off on foot with an unwieldy bundle carried on a Go-Cart. While walking out of Coatbridge on the Glasgow Road, a truck driver offered them a lift. He took them as far as the east end of Glasgow and dropped them off on Duke Street. Locals were suspicious of Newell and the police were called. Newell was followed as she went into a back court and emerged without the bundle. She was apprehended and the boy's body was discovered.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hJdAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OKUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5845%2C6929172 |title=Shocking discovery in Glasgow. Woman brings body from Coatbridge. Wheeled in a Go-cart. |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=22 June 1923 |page=9 |access-date=1 March 2017}} On 22 June a post-mortem examination was carried out at Glasgow Central Police Mortuary. Johnson died by strangulation.{{cite news |date=20 September 1974 |title=Susan Newell invited the little paper boy upstairs... he was never seen alive again.... She became... The last woman to be hanged in Scotland |page=5 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-W1AAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zKcMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5913,3877922&dq=susan-newell+murder&hl=en |newspaper=Evening Times |location=Glasgow}}http://www.newcriminologist.com/article.asp?nid=813{{dead link|date=May 2016}} On the same day John Newell presented himself to a police station in Haddington.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hZdAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OKUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5129%2C7085368 |title=Boy's death. Coatbridge tragedy development. Man surrenders to police. Accused woman remitted |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=23 June 1923 |page=9 |access-date=1 March 2017}} The truck driver came forward as a witness.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hpdAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OKUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3570%2C7233331 |title=Coatbridge murder. Transport of the go-cart. Lorry driver's story |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=25 June 1923 |page=10 |access-date=1 March 2017}} On 26 June Newell and her husband appeared at Airdrie Sheriff Court where they were both accused of murder; they made no plea and were returned to prison.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iJdAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OKUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3590%2C7496489 |title=Coatbridge murder. Accused before the Sheriff. Victim's injuries|work=The Glasgow Herald |date=27 June 1923 |page=6 |access-date=1 March 2017}}
Trial
On 8 September 1923 Newell and her husband appeared at the Glasgow Sheriff Court and both pled not guilty, while he also lodged a special defence of alibi{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gfdYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QqUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3519%2C1020603 |title=The Coatbridge murder. Male accused's special defence |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=10 September 1923 |page=7 |access-date=1 March 2017}}
Newell and her husband were both put on trial and the case was heard by Lord Alness at the High Court in Glasgow and the case began on 18 September. There were 70 witnesses cited and 40 gave evidence on the first day of the trial. Her daughter Janet testified against her, describing how the body of the paperboy had been wheeled through the streets on a pram.[http://dennistoun.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/discovering-the-secrets-of-glasgows-long-forgotten-duke-street-prison.html Discovering The Secret of Glasgow's long-forgotten duke street prison – s1Dennistoun] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331043624/http://dennistoun.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/discovering-the-secrets-of-glasgows-long-forgotten-duke-street-prison.html |date=31 March 2012 }}
John Newell could prove he was at his brother's funeral at the time of the murder. On the second day of the trial, the charge against her husband was withdrawn. Although it had been expected to last several days, the trial concluded on the afternoon of the second day.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ivdYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QqUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2801%2C2330799 |title=Coatbridge murder. Woman sentenced to death. The question of insanity. Acquittal of husband |page=8 |date=20 September 1923 |access-date=1 March 2017}} Her defence put forward a plea of insanity but this was rejected. The jury returned after 35 minutes and delivered a majority verdict, with one juror against. However, the foreman indicated that the jury were unanimous in strongly recommending mercy. She was sentenced to death and the date of execution set for 10 October.
Petition
A petition was put forth to the Secretary of State for Scotland pleading that the sentence be reduced to penal servitude because of her gender and the fact that she was destitute, and husband had abandoned her and was left homeless and penniless. The Secretary, Viscount Novar, rejected that and stated that he would not interfere with the law.{{cite book|title=HH16/180|publisher=The National Records of Scotland|url=http://www.nas.gov.uk/onlinecatalogue/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506092250/http://www.nas.gov.uk/onlineCatalogue/|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 May 2008|df=dmy-all}}
Execution
Newell was executed on 10 October 1923 at Duke Street Prison, Glasgow.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nPdYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QqUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3548%2C4915194 |title=The Coatbridge Murder. Mrs Newell executed in Glasgow. |work=The Glasgow Herald |page=7 |date=11 October 1923 |access-date=1 March 2017}} There had not been an execution of a woman in Glasgow in the seventy years preceding this. Newell was the last woman in Scotland to be executed.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{cite web |url=http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/susan.html |title=Susan Newell – a senseless murder |publisher=Capital Punishment U.K.}}
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Category:20th-century executions by Scotland
Category:British female murderers
Category:British people executed for murder
Category:Scottish murderers of children
Category:Executed Scottish people
Category:People convicted of murder by Scotland
Category:Executed Scottish women
Category:20th-century Scottish criminals