It Was A Month (#IWSG February 2018)

My wife's surgery went well. Actual recovery is a long and hard process. Life is hectic. It's a struggle to balance everything, and in case it wasn't hectic enough I also took a promotion at work. I'm actually kinda torn about it because it's a lot more work and part of me feels I need to move on to something different, but the money is just too much to pass up right now.

There is not enough hours in the day for everything and I'm just waiting for something to fall apart.

Writing of course has been non-existent. The folks from the Stitch in Crime anthology have been hard at work planning promotion for the book, preparing blogs and Facebook pages and interviews and all that jazz, and I've barely had time follow the messages, let alone help out with anything. I'm really crossing my fingers that in a month or two things will settle down into a more regular routine and life can get back into some semblance of order. Of course, I've been saying that for the last six months, but eventually it has to be true, right?

While I'm thinking about it, though, you have all checked out the Stitch in Crime blog, right?

TICK TOCK: A STITCH IN CRIME BLOG 

And what about the Facebook page?

A STITCH IN CRIME ON FACEBOOK

And of course, while the book comes out May 1st, you know you pre-order it RIGHT NOW, right?

GET IT ON AMAZON!

Available May 1st!

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February Question:

What do you love about the genre you in most often?

I think I've said this before, but I write fantasy mostly because I can just make everything up. It's not even that I don't like doing research - I quite like it, actually - but I hate writing something that someone will inevitably say "That's not how it works!" Well, if everything happens in a made-up world that I created, then PFFFT, too bad, it works exactly the way I say it does.

Of course, my story in Stitch in Crime is actually set in the real world, without any fantasy elements at all. It's a gritty noir thriller, or as gritty as I ever get, anyway. Also, unlike most of my stories, it's not set in Canada, but in the exotic and seedy urban metropolis of Mount Vernon, Washington. I actually had to do a tiny bit of research to look up some street and business names in Mount Vernon, but I'm sure someone is going to point out inaccuracies. I assume there are tens of thousands of people from Mount Vernon who read this blog.

A wretched hive of scum and villainy.

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The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group at http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/.

T - Toronto's Ill-Fated First Hanging

After the bleak and controversial topics of last week (treasonous nationalism, indigenous rights, and TWO separate cases of genocide), let's keep this week lighter. Monday's topic is... public execution.

Actually, it's still not as bad as last week's posts.

Back in 1798 Toronto was a small frontier town only five years old. It wasn't even called Toronto yet, it was still called York back then. They had a brand-new jail and hanging yard on King Street, a couple of blocks east from Yonge Street, and the local authorities were itching to use it.

This is not the York jailhouse from the story. This is the old Don Jail, which has it's own history of controversy and horror.

In October of that year, a couple of Irish immigrants named John Sullivan and Michael Flannery went on a drinking binge in Toronto's only tavern. Sullivan was illiterate, but Flannery was known as "Latin Mike" for his penchant of reciting Bible verses, and by all accounts was a pretty smart guy. This becomes important later.

When the money ran out, Flannery had the sparkling idea to forge a bank note for three shillings and nine pence (worth a little less than dollar, or twenty bucks in today's money). The bank accepted it and the boys continued their bender. They were soon found out, however, and when word came of their impending arrest Flannery immediately skipped town. Sullivan was not so lucky. He was arrested, tried and convicted of forgery, and sentenced to death.

For forging the equivalent of a twenty-dollar bill.

Is this colourful old lady worth your life?

The judge's ruling was scathing:

Sullivan, may all who behold you, and who shall hear of your crime, and of your unhappy fate, take warning from your example… [I] recommend to you to employ the few days that shall be allowed, of a life spent in wickedness, in humble and fervent prayer to almighty God…

Again, the dude was sentenced to death because his friend forged a twenty dollar bill. Sullivan was illiterate and couldn't write his own name. Obviously the town really, really wanted to try out their new hanging yard.

Again this is not from the York hanging (not many cameras back then). This is from Hull, Quebec, in 1902, not far from where I now work.

The problem was the hanging yard was so new, no one actually knew how to hang a person, and nobody was willing to try. They ultimately had to give $100 and a pardon to another criminal in the same jail, a man by the name of McKnight, to give it a whirl.

(I have been unable to determine what McKnight was arrested for, or how it compares to forging a f*cking $20 bill. Would it be worse if he did something really minor like jaywalking, or had murdered an entire churchful of nuns?)

Yeah, I dunno either, Pierre.

A crowd gathered in their Sunday best to watch the hanging (this was about 210 years before Netflix), and McKnight proved he also had no clue how to hang somebody. The first time the noose slipped off Sullivan's head. The second time the knot came undone. At this point even Sullivan himself was getting annoyed and impatient. It was reported that his last words were something along the lines of: 

"McKnight, I hope to God you got the rope right this time."

Turns out he did, and the third time was the charm.

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My A-to-Z Blogging Challenge theme for 2017 is Weird Canadian Facts and History. To see more blog posts, click here.