Oliver Watkins

Oliver Watkins was a convicted murderer and the last person publicly executed in Connecticut.

In 1829, Watkins was convicted of strangling his wife, Roxana, to death after he had an affair with a local widow. Walter Woodward, the Connecticut State Historian, describes what happened after like this:

On August 2, [1831,] thousands of people crowded the streets of Brooklyn to watch Watkins' execution and take part in the festivities that were sure to follow. Local tavern keepers had heavily promoted the event, and even paid for extra private security to watch over Watkins in his holding cell to ensure he didn’t escape or commit suicide before he was scheduled to be hanged. After Watkins was summarily brought out to the gallows and hanged, many of the onlookers remained in Brooklyn and partied late into the night, as had become the custom surrounding public executions.

Following this execution, sociocultural changes as well as class stratification made attending public executions a socially undesirable practice, and they were ended in Connecticut.

Sources

• Woodward, Walter. "August 2: Connecticut's Final Public Hanging." Today in Connecticut History, published 2 August 2021. < link > Accessed 21 August 2021.
• Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Aug 21 2021, 14:47:55 UTC