The Death of Canada Owenby
A notorious prisoner faces his end in Dayton, avoiding the gallows through a rapid decline in health.
On Saturday afternoon last, Canada Owenby’s condition began to grow rapidly worse. Drs. Pietryski and Sauthnke, the attending physicians, saw that there was no hope for the prisoner’s life and so informed the Sheriff. A complication of illnesses overcame the doomed man—besides the great loss of blood from flux, he refused food, the only nourishment which he would take being water and whisky. His condition began to fall rapidly, until at a few minutes after 10 o'clock yesterday morning, Canada Owenby breathed his last and was ushered into the presence of his Maker to answer for the terrible crimes which he had committed. Up to the last moment, Owenby maintained that the confession made by him relative to the New York Bar murder was true in every particular and detail. Owenby died easy and was glad to have his troubles ended. His death was a relief to the citizens of Dayton, as it was currenty reported that an attempt would be made to have him sentenced to imprisonment for life instead of being hanged.
“Owenby died easy and was glad to have his troubles ended. His death was a relief to the citizens of Dayton.”
Public interest in capital punishment and the 'remedy' of a prisoner's death before a scheduled execution reflects the high tension regarding justice in 19th-century frontier towns. Dayton, now a quiet town in Columbia County, was a bustling hub where such criminal proceedings held the attention of the entire local populace.
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