Story by Katie Braet.  Coop Student in 2016 at the Sarnia Historical Society.

Although Canada is not known for the use of the death penalty, much less the small quiet town of Sarnia, unbelievably there are cases in our town’s past where the accused has received such a punishment.

The first hanging to have occurred in Sarnia Lambton was in December, 1862. A man named Thomas Cleary was convicted of murdering Edward Burke by stabbing him several times during a fight. The two had previously worked together cutting wood for Mr. Barron, the Innkeeper of Barron’s Tavern.

On the night in question, the two of them had been drinking all night with a few of their friends, specifically John Donovan, Michael Welsh, and James Cottered. The first fight broke out between Cleary and Burke in the early hours at a place called the National Hotel, on London Road. There seemed to be no apparent reason for their fight, and it was eventually broken up by the owners of the hotel.

All four decided to head back to Barron’s Tavern, two miles out on London Road. Cleary was the first one there, and James was next. Cleary was restless, moving from inside the pub to the barn outside, all while consuming even more alcohol. Once Burke had arrived, Cleary met him and they fought again. Cleary stabbed him four times: once across the back of Burke’s hand; again on his neck, behind his left ear; then on his back, just under the lower point of the left shoulder blade; and the final blow was placed just under his collar bone. Burke died a short while later.

Cleary was executed at the south corner of the intersection of Christina and Durand Streets, across from the original Sarnia jail. As it would turn out, Clearly dropped ten feet from the platform, a length that is rather too deep for a hanging. The result was that only part of his neck was dislocated, thus leaving him struggling for air for several minutes. He was 28 year old. Thomas Cleary was buried in a Roman Catholic Cemetery.

The second execution was of a woman: Mrs. Elizabeth Workman. Workman had beaten her husband, James, to death with a mop handle after he decided to throw a lamp at her, and was executed on June 19, 1873. It is worthy to note that her husband was an abusive drunk, and that Elizabeth did not have the intention to kill James, although in the end he he succumbed to his injuries two days after the beating.

Her death was contrary to the jury’s wishes and the intentions of 1,000 Sarnia residents, including the mayor, Charles Taylor. Yet her fate was sealed: to be hanged from the neck until dead.

The next unfortunate soul on our list is a man by the name of Stephen Kiyoshk. He murdered his business partner, Jerry Blackbird, on August 17, 1939, and was hanged on January 3, 1941. The two partners were engaged in a ferry business between Walpole and Harsens Islands.

According to police accounts, Blackbird was killed with an axe, shackled with chains by his ankles,and bound to Kiyoshk’s boat. Blackbird was then rowed 1600 feet downstream where his body was found the next morning.

Yet Kiyoshk’s story of what happened that night was quite different. He said that Blackbird and a few other friends had come over to his house for the night. Kiyoshk and Blackbird had been drinking heavily, and Blackbird said that he saw some headlights of a car on Walpole Island. He decided to go check it out, while Kiyoshk went to sleep in his tool shed.

As to what happened next, there seems to be a bit of an issue. On one account it says that Kiyoshk was woken up by officers in the tool shed; but on another Kiyoshk said that he had woken up, felt hungry, and went to make himself a sandwich, grabbing a flashlight in the process. He then noticed a flashlight in the distance and decided to flash his own torch, thinking it was his friends, only to find out that it was the police.

The hanging of Stephen Kiyoshk was relatively painless, and he was dead within five minutes of dropping. He was buried at Highbanks Cemetery on Walpole Island, which is where his body remains.