In 1860, a 14-year-old boy was accidentally hanged after a mock trial by his peers. According to the story, the boy had the same name as a man who was to be hanged that same day.
Young John Brown Hung
A curious affair took place in Quincy on the day of the execution of John Brown, in Virginia, which came near having a tragical termination.
There is a boy, aged about 14 years, named John Brown, residing in the town where John Quincy Adams lived and died, and several boys in the neighborhood concluded that he ought to be tried for treason.
They accordingly put him through the regular forms of a trial. He was arraigned in due form, was allowed counsel, and after a patient investigation of the cause, he was adjudged guilty, and sentenced to be hung.
The boys placed the young John Brown upon a barrel, under a tree, fastened a slip noose around his body, enclosing his arms, and fastened the rope to a limb of the tree.
They then kicked the barrel from under him, and young John Brown was nearly launched into eternity, for the rope slipped up and caught the young gentleman around the throat.
He was now in a perilous situation, as his thoughtless companions were frightened by the blood that flew from his nostrils in a stream, and ran away from the scene as fast as possible.
Fortunately for young Brown, a woman in a house nearby ran out with a big carving knife and cut him down.
Young brown was game to the last, but he has concluded not to participate in a mock trial again.
Source: The Alleghanian. (Ebensburg, Pa.), 05 Jan. 1860.
