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The last man to be hanged at the prison that once stood on Vauquelin Square in Old Montreal died on August 30, 1833. His name was Adolphus Dewey. Perhaps best known as the man who found God in prison, and whose last words were recorded by evangelist Nancy Towle in a volume titled Some of the Writings and Last Sentences of Adolphus Dewey, he was also a jealous man and brutal murderer who would one day haunt the fields where ten thousand spectators came to watch his hanging.

Let us introduce you to Adolphus Dewey. As described on the Old Port ghost walk conducted by Montreal Ghosts, Dewey was a tall and handsome man, brimming with the charm of the Irish. At twenty-three, he was already the owner of a bakery located on Saint-Paul Street in what is now Old Montreal.

It was love at first sight when Dewey met Euphrosine Martineau, a young woman known as the most beautiful girl in the city. Their courtship was brief, with an engagement and marriage quickly following. And there, at the very beginning of their life together, is where their happiness ended. As the owner of a business, Dewey worked six days a week, leaving his wife alone and lonely at home. She was an easy target for those anxious to ruin her marriage. The young French-Canadian men of the area were less than thrilled that an Irishman had claimed the prettiest girl they knew, and when they came to realize he wasn’t caring for her as he should, they started a rumour or two about the Dewey marriage. Before long, Martineau was having one affair, then two, then more than two. Though none of these claims were substantiated, when Dewey caught wind of the news, he was furious, and his jealous nature took over. He started beating his wife, and before long Martineau packed her bags and fled back to her father’s house.

Dewey regretted his actions after his wife left him, but his jealousy continued to simmer. A week after Martineau’s departure, Dewey showed up at the door of his father-in-law’s house with his tail between his legs to beg his wife to return to him. Not quite convinced of his contrition, Martineau agreed to attend Mass with Dewey, but stressed that she was agreeing to nothing more. It was a decision that would be her undoing.

After church, Dewey convinced Martineau that he needed to stop by the bakery before taking her home. Once inside the bakery, he locked the door behind him. Martineau, oblivious to the danger she was in, explained to Dewey that she was willing to live with him, but only if they also lived with her father, in case Dewey tried to hit her again. Very calmly, Dewey replied that she needn’t worry about their living arrangements, because she was about to die.

Then he grabbed an axe.

The attack was nearly averted when the astonished Martineau threw herself into her husband’s arms, an action that resulted in the initial strike missing her entirely. But Dewey would not be thwarted so easily. Reaching into his pocket, he drew out a razor and cut Martineau’s throat. Without waiting for her final death throes, he went right out the door, locked it behind him, and jumped in a waiting carriage, which he’d hired to flee the country.

Left bleeding profusely and all alone, Martineau somehow found the strength to crawl to the back door, unbolt it, and drag herself to the shop next door. When the servants opened the door, the sight of the young woman drenched in blood scared them so much they ran. The neighbour, a Mr. Roy, quickly sent for a doctor. After having her wounds stiched closed, Martineau moved to her father’s home to recover. Sadly, strong as she was, Martineau perished ten days later of her wounds, as did the baby growing inside of her. Adolphus Dewey was now being sought for both murder and infanticide.

The Champ-de-Mars park where Adolphus Dewey’s ghost roams. The remains of Montreal’s fortifications can be seen here.

Dewey was apprehended in Plattsburgh, New York, and sent back to Montreal for trial. His incarceration and trial (which lasted only one day) received international attention and has been called the highest-profile murder trial in nineteenth-century Montreal. The attention the trial received was due mainly to the extreme cruelty and bloodiness of the murder, as well as the young woman’s pregnancy.

Dewey spent four months in chains in his cell in a Montreal penitentiary known for its inhumane conditions. It was there that he became suddenly devout, and spent most of his days reading the Bible and praying. One the day of his trial, a huge crowd fought to get into the courtroom to see Dewey, dressed in mourning clothes, with his three lawyers. Though Dewey’s legal team tried to convince the jury that he wasn’t guilty due to mental derangement, after two dozen witnesses were called against him, it took the jury only fifteen minutes to declare him guilty.

Everyone came to the hanging, which was one of the most popular in Montreal’s history. The Champ-de-Mars fields, which currently stretch out behind the Old Montreal Courthouse (now City Hall) and the Palais de Justice de Montréal, were at the time a terrific place to view executions taking place by the walls of the prison. King claims it was known as the best place in the British Empire to see a hanging, and families would often pack a picnic and bring their children to the event.

Dewey wore a black suit for his execution and gave a speech on the scaffold to the enormous crowd. He apologized for his crime, spoke of God, and asked that the crowd pray for him. The hanging itself was gruesome and long, due to the fact that Dewey’s neck didn’t break when he fell. In a grim parallel to his wife’s prolonged death, Dewey twisted on the rope for a good four minutes, frothing at the mouth while ten thousand citizens watched.

Champ-de-Mars is now a picturesque park. Little evidence of the ghastly deaths that once occurred there remain. That is, unless you decide to walk there at night, when you might be approached by the good-natured ghost of Adolphus Dewey, who is known to give much needed advice to those who are down on their luck. One hundred and eighty-five years later, he haunts the grounds where he came to his bitter end, still trying to make up for his terrible crime. Or, perhaps, he is still trying to convince the people of Montreal that he isn’t the monster we all know he was.