Today in History

1866 Maungatapu murderers hanged in Nelson

The sensational case of the Maungatapu murders came to an end when three members of the 'Burgess gang' were hanged shortly before 8.30 a.m. at Nelson gaol. Joseph Sullivan, the fourth member of the gang, avoided the death penalty after turning Queen's evidence and testifying against his co-accused.

Career criminal Richard Burgess approached his death with great bravado. He bounded up the scaffold steps and kissed the noose as 'a prelude to heaven'. Philip Levy calmly protested his innocence, but Thomas Kelly had to be carried kicking and ‘whining’ up the scaffold steps. The unfortunate Kelly did not die instantly.

Moulds for casts of the three heads were taken – according to a newspaper report, 'the faces of Burgess and Levy bore a placid expression, that of Kelly was disturbed a little, as he was speaking when the drop fell'. The bodies were then buried in the prison yard.

Image: Report of the executions in the Nelson Evening Mail