The members of St. David’s on the Hill Book Club were excited to welcome local author and historian Paul Caranci to their monthly meeting last month.

Caranci is the author of “The Hanging and Redemption of John Gordon: The True Story of Rhode Island’s Last Execution,” among other books.

“We are excited to be hosting another author event,” Evie Bain, one of the members of the book club, said in her introduction. “Paul Caranci is the former deputy secretary of state and is the author of five other books, but says that by far this is one of his favorites.”

“The Hanging and Redemption of John Gordon” is a graphic description of a murder that took place locally in 1843, and the trial of the Irish-Catholic immigrant businessman John Gordon that followed, resulting in his unjust hanging. Gordon was the last victim of capital punishment in Rhode Island.

In his book and in his presentation to the club at St. David’s, Caranci explored the murder, the evidence, the trial, and the impact the political climate and the media both had on the case. He explained that although some things may have changed since Gordon’s death in 1845, in many ways, much has remained the same.

Caranci described to his readers how he happened upon the story of Gordon’s death unexpectedly while driving home from a meeting past the Park Theatre in Cranston.

“I had never heard of John Gordon before. I had no idea who he was,” Caranci said. “I saw the play advertised and went to see it. It was 100-percent accurate and it was phenomenal, but it only touched on a little piece of the story. It seemed that there was so much more to tell.”

Caranci went on to delve deeper into the mysterious death of Amasa Sprague and the resulting hanging of Gordon, and discovered that there was in fact, plenty more to tell. He went on to tell the story in his own book.

As he spoke to the members of the club, he began the timeline of the story in the year 1836 with Nicholas Gordon’s move to Cranston and subsequent opening of a business in Knightsville. He introduced the Sprague family and their move to Rhode Island earlier, in 1710, continuing the timeline with Gordon’s arrangement to have his family members sent to America as his business began to thrive. Gordon’s mother, brothers John, William and Robert, sister Margaret, and niece Margaret all settled in Cranston upon their arrival.

Caranci read aloud from his book, describing in detail the night of the murder of Amasa Sprague on Dec. 31, 1843, and the nightmare that ensued for the Gordon family from that moment on. He not only described the murder and trial, but he also described the impact that the saga had on the extended family members including Gordon’s mother, right down to the arrest of the family’s elderly dog.

“Even the dog was arrested,” Caranci said. “The police department wanted to check the paw prints of the dog with the paw prints made by a dog, which were found at the scene.”

Caranci described to the group the many ways in which the evidence and clues from the scene were manipulated and tampered with as the investigation took place, leading to both John and William being charged as the principals of the murder and their brother Nicholas being charged as an accessory before the crime. He also described the bigotry that was prevalent throughout the trial.

“The judge encouraged the jury to put less weight on the Irish witnesses’ stories which corroborated with the Gordons’ stories, than on the other, less reliable witnesses’ stories,” he said.

At the end of the trial, despite the lack of evidence and reliable witness accounts, William was found not guilty, while John was found guilty of the murder.

“Judge Durfee denied the motion to withhold the sentencing until after the trial of Nicholas, which was later determined to be a hung jury as the witnesses’ perjured stories fell apart, and he sentenced him to death by hanging,” Caranci said.

Gordon was executed on Feb. 14, 1845, and Caranci described the hanging in detail as the members of the book club listened intently to his every word.

“Normally a criminal being executed would beg for forgiveness during those last moments,” Caranci said. “But Gordon’s priest, Father Brady, told him to have courage and to forgive his enemies, and as in the words of Christ, Gordon forgave all his enemies, stating that they knew not what they had done.”

As he concluded his presentation, Caranci told of the further suffering and deaths of the remaining members of Gordon’s family. Nicholas died after two hung trials and two years in a cold prison cell, and William lived through a raging battle with alcoholism and dysfunction, being housed in an asylum six times in three years for a total of 900 days. His mother struggled to survive her own arrest, the trial of her sons and their subsequent deaths and personal battles, finally dying after her third son died.

“The story is tragic but it shows the impact of fate from bigotry and persecution on a community,” Caranci said. “It preordained so much more. Even though these events took place in the mid-19th century, they still have some impact today. There is still bigotry, there is still hatred, and they’re still very present in the world today … In the words of Henry David Thoreau, ‘There is no new news, just old news with new dates.’”

After a period of questions and answers, Caranci remained after the session to sign copies of his book. For more information, visit paulcaranci.com.