The first to face the gallows in Hamilton

On March 14, 1876, Michael McConnell was the first person to be hanged at the Barton Jail.

He stabbed his landlord Nelson Mills eight times on Jan. 5 of that year, with the landlord dying four days later. At McConnell's trial, the court heard that Mills was stabbed at the corner of King and Queen Streets beside his home because he had threatened to evict McConnell for nonpayment of rent.

For his part, McConnell was withholding the money to try to force Mills into doing long overdue repairs to the home.

The case was one of the first in Canada in which a defence plea of insanity was introduced. That defence was rejected, but modern-day forebears believe McConnell suffered from psychiatric issues that might have met the standard of a present-day verdict of not guilty for reasons of insanity.

The Spectator reported: There had been many serious crimes in Hamilton before, but the event of the attack on Nelson Mills by one of his tenants, Michael McConnell, was so brazen, violent and senseless that the community was deeply disturbed ... Nelson Mills was one of Hamilton's most prominent citizens, a member of respected and influential families."