The last public hanging in the State took place in 1835 on Prince Hill.... On the fatal day, the victim, a man named Watkins, peering through the iron bars of his cell, and seeing the townfolk scurrying to the place of execution, is said to have remarked, ‘Why is everyone running? Nothing can happen until I get there.’
ATTRIBUTION:
Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943). Connecticut: A Guide to Its Roads, Lore, and People (The WPA Guide to Connecticut), p. 395, Houghton Mifflin (1938).
