Book Case: November 2016
Stories from our criminal history
The most satisfying volunteer work I ever did was at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary in St. John’s. For a few years, I spent a lot of afternoons there in the prison library. True crime books were always in demand; the most-requested (and never available) was Ten Steps to the Gallows by Jack Fitzpatrick – understandably, because it was about the very building our patrons were confined to.
This month’s column features two books which include the Pen as a setting, at least in part. One is a historical romance “inspired by true events” in the 1880s, the other a historical examination of murder and capital punishment as Newfoundland headed into Confederation with Canada.
Dancing on Air: A Tale of Vengeance, Mercy, and the End of The Death Penalty in Newfoundland
By Eric Colbourne
Boulder Publications: 151 pages
$21.95
I don’t know if the expression “dancing on air” originates with Oscar Wilde, but he famously uses it in The Ballad of Reading Gaol. Its use in the title here is a clue that this slim volume isn’t going to be a cheerful read. In the end, though, Colbourne’s comparison of two Newfoundland murderers in the 1940s are at the very least intriguing and perhaps even encouraging.
In 1942, Herbert Spratt, son of St. John’s deputy mayor, beat his fiancée to death with an iron in a house on Plymouth Road in St. John’s. Within 10 weeks, he had been convicted of the crime and executed – the last person, although of course nobody knew that then, who would be executed in the then-country, and later province, of Newfoundland.
Six years later, another man was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. 19-year-old Alfred Beaton went on a rampage in Norris Arm, terrorizing the community for a night. At the end of the night, a woman had been shot dead. Beaton’s conviction and sentence inspired a wave of public outcry; this is the “encouraging” part of the story.
Two days after the death sentence, the Evening Telegram published a very lengthy anonymous letter pleading for mercy for the teenager. This was followed by other letters in other papers, editorials, an appeal by Beaton’s lawyers, and (apparently) enormous public discussion. All this was unfolding as the country of Newfoundland marched towards Confederation.
Colbourne’s research seems impeccable, and he presents the facts in the manner of a born storyteller, colourfully depicting working-class St. John’s, the relatively prosperous rural community of Norris Arm, upper-crust governors, and the people involved in the legal and policing systems of the day. The suspense and tension unfold as well as in any modern procedural novel. The fascinating glimpses of the inner workings of Newfoundland’s elite classes are a bonus, as are the period photos of the people involved and some of the sites mentioned in the text.
It’s maybe not a book for the very squeamish, containing as it does detailed descriptions of murder scenes and hangings gone wrong, but it is a book for anyone interested the evolution of Newfoundland justice.
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