Reddin and Cavanagh murdered; wife dies at stake

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Paddy Casey
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Reddin and Cavanagh murdered; wife dies at stake

Post by Paddy Casey » Tue Apr 08, 2008 8:26 pm

On April 7 1731 Mary Reddin (named in another newspaper report as Mary Madun) was tried for the murder of her husband (dixit the Daily Journal (London, England), Saturday, April 24, 1731).

The Universal Spectator and Weekly Journal (London, England), Saturday, February 13, 1731 reports the murder of one Reddin, a high constable, and his son, a youth of 18 or 19 years old, who were both killed in their beds, ".....it is supposed by Reddin's Wife, he having attempted to hang her a few Days before and she being so wicked and revengeful a Woman, as to have been believ'd to have kill'd one Cavanagh, her former Husband, who was also murder'd....".

A subsequent newspaper report said that she was burned at the stake* and protested her innocence until the end.

I cannot quite understand why the condemned, whose husband had allegedly attempted to hang her a few Days before, was described as "...wicked and revengeful....". Whilst I always try to be charitable, even under difficult circumstances, I might have difficulty to avoid feeling a little peeved, even momentarily wicked and revengeful, if my spouse had just tried to hang me

Paddy

* At that time in the Realm burning at the stake was the punishment for women convicted of Petty Treason, an example of Petty Treason being the murder by a woman of her husband or her mistress, as they were considered her superiors in law (see also http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.c ... rning.html ). One of the reasons for preferring this punishment for women was that it obviated the nudity that would be associated with the hanging and quartering reserved for men. A laudable decorousness in those otherwise uncouth times.
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