Oscar Joseph Comery (July 1886 – February 18, 1916) was a Canadian-American chauffeur hanged in Concord, New Hampshire for murdering his wife.
Comery was born in Canada, the son of French Canadians Joseph Comery (also spelled Comire) and Celine Boisvert.[1][2][3]
According to the Concord Evening Monitor, Comery killed his wife on November 29, 1914. He was arrested on January 1, 1915, brought to trial on February 8, 1915, where he "pleaded guilty to murder in the first degree with the expectation that the court would sentence him to life imprisonment."
On February 18, 1916, Comery was convicted of murdering his wife. He confessed to killing his wife by poisoning her with strychnine by replacing the quinine his wife normally took with the poison. An autopsy was performed and strychnine was determined to be the cause of death.
He was hanged at 12:31 a.m. at the New Hampshire State Prison on February 18, 1916,[4] at the age of 34. Comery was the first of only three people executed by the state of New Hampshire in the 20th century. The other two were Frederick L. Small in 1918 and Howard Long in 1939.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ 1900 United States Federal Census
- ^ New Hampshire, Death and Disinterment Records, 1754-1947
- ^ Annual Report of the Receipts and Expenditures of the City of Concord ... Together with Other Annual Reports and Papers Relating to the Affairs of the City. Concord. 1917. p. 507. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
- ^ "Comery, Wife Slayer, Hanged at Concord". The Boston Globe. February 18, 1916. p. 3. Retrieved October 12, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
| Preceded by Frank Almy |
Executions carried out in New Hampshire | Succeeded by Frederick L. Small |
 | This United States biographical article related to crime is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |