Patience Sampson

Case overview

Patience Sampson, also known as Patience Boston, was a Native American who was executed by hanging at York, in Maine.

Timeline

• July 9, 1734 — Patience Sampson murdered her master's grandson, Benjamin Trot, 8, by drowning him in a well.
• July 24, 1734 — Patience Sampson went before “one of His Majesty's justices of the peace,” accused herself of the murder, and continued self-accusation from first to last, including at trial and up to the time of execution.
• June 20, 1735 — A witness found the prisoner melancholly at noon; at night she was very cheerful and was satisfied that she had pleaded guilty and might be executed the next day.
• June 30 — A person who looked in through the grates told Patience Sampson that by pleading guilty she hanged herself.
• July 16, 1735 — Patience Sampson was described as in an “excellent Frame,” free and cheerful, above fear of death.
• July 23, 1735 — A witness visited the prisoner; she was sorrowful and uttered despairing words, and later came into a calm and comfortable frame.
• July 24, 1735 — Patience Sampson was executed at York, Maine.
• July 31, 1735 — Patience Sampson was executed by hanging at York.

The offence

Patience Sampson was accused of the murder of Benjamin Trot, described as “a child of about eight years of age.” She drowned him in a well.

She described prior contrivances: she had thought about burning a barn and had once before drawn the child into the woods with a stick, but had trembled and lost courage before lifting it. When the time came, she went to the well, threw a pole in to provide an excuse to draw the boy to the well, asked for help to get up the pole, then used “a longer pole” to thrust the boy down under the water until he drowned.

After the drowning, she lifted her hands and eyes toward the sky and cried:

“Now am I guilty of Murder indeed; though formerly I accused my self falsly, yet now has God left me.”

She then went and informed the authority. When a jury sat on the body, she was ordered to touch it, which she described as terrifying her. She said she resolved in her heart to be “a Witness against my self, and never deny my Guilt,” laid her hand on “it’s Face,” and reported that no blood appeared. She also said she had been tempted “to thrust him down under the Water” as if the child had fallen in of himself.

Investigation and confinement

Patience Sampson stayed in prison in York, Maine for months while waiting for the Supreme Court to convene and hear her case.

During her confinement, a witness described her distress in repeated exclamations and lamentation. The witness wrote:

“O I have offended a merciful God! a merciful God! I have offended the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. O Sin, Sin, Sin! &c. O now I find it is an evil and bitter Thing to depart from the Living God! O the Sin of Murther! Murther! Murther! -- O the Sin of Lying! --O I used to play a Sabbath Days! -- O my putting off my returning to God! -- O to die Christless! to die Christless, to die without an Interest in Christ! O to part from Christ! To part from Christ! O the Door of Heaven is shut against me! -- O my God, my God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me! -- O Patience! Patience! you wicked Wretch, you first forsook God, and then he forsook you! O he is a good God! He is a good God! He is a God of Truth, He will be as good as his Word! He will be as good as his Word! ---- O God's Anger! God's Anger! God's Anger! ---- O the Wrath of God! the Wrath of God! ---- O my dear Soul! my dear Soul! God's Anger is burning in my Soul! O that Fire there is cool, to what I feel in my Soul! -- O my Soul is in Hell; my Soul is in Hell! -----”

The same witness said her distress included “Intermissions,” and recorded expressions including:

“I will Pray, I will Pray -- I do believe what Christ has said in John, All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. -- I do love God, I have loved him ever since I have known him.”

Trial

Patience Sampson pleaded not guilty at her trial, and she was acquitted on account of the change in her story and the lack of other evidence against her.

After being acquitted, she was bound to a new master with the consent of her husband, and after being sold to Joseph Bailey of Casco Bay she was later sent back toward the execution process.

At later proceedings connected with the murder of Benjamin Trot, Patience Sampson pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to die.

She later explained why she pleaded guilty:

• She said she did not plead not guilty because “then I was not guilty, but now I was.”

She said she pleaded guilty because she was constrained to do so and to “please God,” and she expressed an intention to own guilt to avoid dishonouring God and her conscience.

Sentencing and execution

Patience Sampson was sentenced to die by hanging.

A witness described her final preparation and conduct on the day of execution. On the execution day, the witness recorded that she:

• asked to be alone “a few Minutes,”
• walked to the place of execution “in the same calm Temper,”
• behaved “very decently.”

The witness recorded extensive statements and prayers by Patience Sampson at the execution, including acknowledgement of guilt and prayers for others. The witness presented the following as her spoken prayer:

“She adored God as infinite and unchangeable; She confessed her Sins, naming several, and prayed that she might be cleansed in the Blood of Christ. She over and over committed her precious Soul to God, begging Mercy for Christ's sake, acknowledging that God out of Christ is a consuming Fire. She acknowledged the Justice of God in what was befallen her, for that she was guilty of Murder, and blessed God for bringing her thither, and granting her that Opportunity, and for giving her Comfort; admiring at it that such a one as she should have Comfort. She prayed for true Faith in Jesus Christ, Lord (said she) I believe, help though mine Unbelief! She prayed for her Child, that it might be brought up in the Fear of an infinite God, and gave it up to Him. Lord, said she; it is not my Child, but thine. The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the Name of the Lord. She pray'd for the innumerable Spectators (she expressed it) That they might all take Warning by her, and beware of the Sin of Drunkenness, Lying &c. and that God would awaken secure Sinners. She pray'd for the Ministers that had been helpful to her, that God would reward all their Kindness. And for the Man that was to execute her, that he might be sensible of all his evil Ways, and that this Providence might be sanctified to him. And finally, that God would be with her the few Moments she had to live, and carry her thro' that last Trouble.”

The witness also recorded that she asked if there was any time left, and when told there was, she began to warn “all, especially Young People, against the Sins of Drunkenness, Lying &c.”

The witness further recorded that, after her face was covered and she responded to questions, she said:

“Lord Jesus receive my Spirit ”

Outcome

Patience Sampson was executed by hanging at York.

Other details

Patience Sampson provided a detailed narrative of her earlier life and religious experiences, including:

• she said she was “born at Menomey on Cape Cod Dec. 26:1711,”
• she said her father’s name was John Samson and her mother’s maiden name was Sarah Jethro,
• she described being bound out to “Mr. Paul Crow” and learning to read and the Assembly’s Catechism,
• she described “three Times” setting fire to the house “when I was about twelve Years old,”
• she described marriage to a “Negro Servant,” and being drawn to “strong Drink,” including abuse “in Words and Actions” while intoxicated,
• she described pregnancies and accounts involving children, including claims of murdering children followed by later denial of the claims by examinations and discovery of what she described as sudden deaths,
• she described living in drunkenness and swearing after being sold to Joseph Bailey of Casco Bay.

She also described leaving an earlier household after her term and later being bound to Capt. Dimmick, who then sold her to Joseph Bailey of Casco Bay.

A printed narrative connected with her confinement and death included statements by ministers Samuel and Joseph Moody. In the preface, they wrote:

“This astonishing Relation of a bloody Malefactor’s Conversion, was taken from her Mouth while she was in Prison, and being publickly read to her on the Lecture a few Hours before her Execution, she did unconstrainedly own it, as what she had in very Deed experienced.”

In the same preface, the Moodys wrote:

“It must be confessed, that it could not be exactly taken in her own Way of expressing her self.”

They also wrote:

“The Account was not drawn up in haste, but Things were written down at twenty several Times -- One Day Week and Month after another.”

The narrative included the statement:

“Here is nothing false or feigned.”

Another printed account included the assertion that Patience Sampson was executed “at York, July 24th. 1735.”

The record also included a claim that Patience Sampson was “in her 23d Year” in the relation “taken from her Mouth.”