Washington Goode

Who was Washington Goode?

Washington Goode was an African American sailor who was hanged for murder in Boston in May 1849. His case was the subject of considerable attention by those opposed to the death penalty, resulting in over 24,000 signatures on petitions for clemency to Massachusetts governor, George N. Briggs. His trial was presided over by Justice Lemuel Shaw who the following year would sentence Professor John White Webster to death for the murder of Harvard Medical School benefactor, Dr. George Parkman, another trial that would capture Boston's imagination and blur the lines of distinction between opponents and advocates of capital punishment. Goode's trial was reported widely in the newspapers, including the Tioga Eagle of June 13, 1849, published in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, which carried a brief notice of his hanging:

Washington Goode,a colored man, was hung at Boston on Friday, for the murder of Thomas Harding. He made a desperate attempt the night previous to commit suicide by cutting the veins of his arm with glass, and swallowing tobacco and tarred rope. Goode was only 20 [sic] years of age, and was with General Taylor through all the Florida War. He protested his innocence to the last.