Joseph Samuel

Who is Joseph Samuel?

Joseph Samuel was an Englishman legendary for the manner in which he survived execution. Convicted for robbery in 1795, he was sentenced in 1801 to transportation to Australia, aboard the Nile, Canada and Minorca. Australia then maintained a penal settlement at Sydney Cove. Security in the early penal settlements was reinforced by the isolation of the colony: guards trusted the Australian wilderness to kill any prisoners who attempted to escape.

Samuel succeeded in escaping and, with a gang, robbed the home of a wealthy woman, and in the process, a policeman named Joseph Luker who was guarding her home, was murdered. The gang was hunted down and quickly captured, and during the trial, the woman recognised Joseph Samuel as one of the culprits. He confessed to robbing her home, but denied having murdered the policeman. The other members of the gang, including the leader, were acquitted due to lack of evidence, but because the woman identified Samuel, he was convicted and sentenced to hang by the neck until dead.