Walk Towards the Gallows: The Tragedy of Hilda Blake, Hanged 1899 - Kramer, Reinhold; Mitchell, Tom

Clean, tight, unmarked; absolute minimal wear appears unread; On 5 July 1899 Hilda Blake, a 21-year-old maidservant in Brandon, MB, who had come to Canada from England ten years earlier as an orphan immigrant, shot and killed her mistress. Two days after Christmas she was hanged, one of the few women in Canadian history to die for her crime. Blake unintentionally left a remarkable documentary record, ranging from Poorhouse records, court pockets of custody and criminal cases in which she was the central figure, popular, journalistic, and professional assessments of her character, and a poem. "My Downfall", that she penned in Brandon Gaol while awaiting execution. To explain who Hilda bought a gun and why she fire it, Kramer and Mitichell employ both historical and literary techniques. The result is a richly textured story of late Victorian social, cultural and political life.
Near Fine
Soft cover
Oxford University Press
2002
Don Mills, ON