Execution Hook
Periodca. 1857
Place MadeNew Jersey
MediumWrought iron
Dimensions9 × 3 in. (22.9 × 7.6 cm)
InscribedNote from donor reads, "This hook was made by John Hall, blacksmith / when Samual Conover was sheriff of Mon. Co. [Monmouth County] / It was used to hang James P. Donolly [Donnelly], between / 1850 & 1860. I do not know the exact date. / his Son S.A. Hall"
Classifications(not assigned)
Credit LineGift of S.A. Hall, 1931
Object number126
DescriptionA large hook of wrought iron, with an iron ring fastened through a loop at the base of the hook's stem.Curatorial RemarksThis hook was made by for Monmouth County sheriff Samuel Conover by Freehold blacksmith John Hall. It was used to hang James P. Donnelly, who was executed in 1857 after being convicted of the murder of Albert Moses at the Sea View House in Highlands. From the 2001 Monmouth County Archives Murder in Monmouth Exhibit: "Donnelly, a surgery student at New York University, took a summer job as a bookkeeper at a Jersey shore hotel near Twin Lights. After a guest entrusted $100 to him, Donnelly lost half of it playing cards with a temporary bartender, 18-year-old Albert Moses. At dawn the next day, Moses, suffering from a stab in the neck, named Donnelly as his attacker before he died. Donnelly, who had reported the crime to the hotel operator, maintained his innocence, although he behaved rather curiously -- running out of the hotel, dumping a wad of counterfeit bills, and running down to the river (presumably to dispose of the weapon). He then returned to the hotel, where he reluctantly was recruited in the unsuccessful effort to treat Moses. Donnelly had many supporters, with whose help he escaped after his conviction. But the getaway horse wasn't waiting as planned and he was caught trying to walk to Keyport, where a fast boat awaited him. After Governor Newell, suspected of anti-Irish sentiments, resisted pleas for sentence reduction, Donnelly was hung in front of the courthouse, where a huge crowd heard him speak eloquently about his innocence for over two hours."
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