The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state and former colony of Rhode Island from 1670 to 1845.
Capital punishment was first abolished in Rhode Island in 1852, reinstated in 1873 and was finally abolished in 1984.[1] 53 people were ever executed in Rhode Island, 51 by hanging, 1 by hanging, drawing and quartering and 1 by hanging and gibbeting.[2] Only 8 of the executions were after Rhode Island’s statehood.
| +Colonial Era: 45 executions; 43 hanged, 1 hanged, drawn and quartered, 1 hanged and gibbeted | Name | Race | Sex | Date of Execution | Method | Crime(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Flounders[3] | White | M | Hanging | Murder[4] | ||
| 2 | Thomas Cornell Jr. | Matricide | |||||
| 3 | Punnean | Native American | Rape and Murder | ||||
| 4 | Joshua Tefft | White | Hanging, drawing and quartering[5] | Unlawfully fighting | |||
| 5 | Peter Pylatt | Black | Hanging | Assault and Rape | |||
| 6 | Job | Native American | Hanging and Gibbeting[6] | Kidnapping and Murder | |||
| 7 | Jeremiah Meacham | White | Hanging | Murder | |||
| 8 | William Dyer | ||||||
| 9 | Reuben Hull | ||||||
| 10 | William Blades | Piracy | |||||
| 11 | Charles Harris | ||||||
| 12 | Thomas Hugget | ||||||
| 13 | Thomas Linnicar | ||||||
| 14 | Peter Cues | ||||||
| 15 | Daniel Hyde | ||||||
| 16 | William Jones | ||||||
| 17 | Stephen Mundon | ||||||
| 18 | Edward Eaton | ||||||
| 19 | Abraham Lacy | ||||||
| 20 | John Brown | ||||||
| 21 | Edward Lawson | ||||||
| 22 | James Sprinkley | ||||||
| 23 | John Tomkins | ||||||
| 24 | Joseph Sound | ||||||
| 25 | Francis Laughton | ||||||
| 26 | Charles Church | ||||||
| 27 | John Fitzgerald | ||||||
| 28 | William Stutfield | ||||||
| 29 | Owen Rice | ||||||
| 30 | William Rhad | ||||||
| 31 | Thomas Hazel | ||||||
| 32 | John Bright | ||||||
| 33 | Joseph Libby | ||||||
| 34 | Thomas Powest | ||||||
| 35 | John Waters | ||||||
| 36 | Francis Baudoine | ||||||
| 37 | Thomas Davis | ||||||
| 38 | Peter LeGrand | ||||||
| 39 | Peter Jesseau | ||||||
| 40 | Thomas Carter | Robbery and Murder | |||||
| 41 | Samuel Parks | Piracy | |||||
| 42 | Benjamin Hawkins | ||||||
| 43 | Fortune Price | Black | Arson | ||||
| 44 | John Sherman | White | Burglary | ||||
| 45 | Daniel Wilson | Rape |
| +Statehood: 8 executions; all hanged | Name | Race | Sex | Date of Execution | Method | Crime(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 46 | John Hart | White | M | Hanging | Treason | ||
| 47 | Thomas Mount | Burglary | |||||
| 48 | David Comstock | Murder | |||||
| 49 | Hopkins Hudson | ? | |||||
| 50 | Amasa Walmsley | Native American | |||||
| 51 | Amos Miner | White | |||||
| 52 | Charles Brown | Black | Robbery | ||||
| 53 | John Gordon | White | Murder |