{{Short description|American convicted murderer (1820–1851)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2019}} {{for|American television personality|John McCaffery}} {{Infobox criminal | name = John McCaffary | birth_date = c. 1820 | birth_place = Ireland | death_date = {{Death date|1851|08|21}} (aged 30/31) | death_place = Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S. | cause = Botched execution by hanging (unintentional strangulation) | alias = | conviction = Willful murder<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/state-by-state/wisconsin|title=Wisconsin|website=Death Penalty Information Center}}</ref> | conviction_penalty = Death | conviction_status = Executed | occupation = | spouse = Bridgett McCaffary | parents = | children = | victims = Bridgett McCaffary | date = July 23, 1850 }}

'''John McCaffary'''{{efn|Also spelled '''McCaffrey''' or '''McCaffery'''; all are Anglicizations of the Irish surname Mac Gafraidh common in County Fermanagh.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VnyuH968VQ8C&dq=%22john+McCaffary+%22+mccaffrey&pg=PA20|title=It Happened in Wisconsin|first=Michael|last=Bie|date=June 1, 2007|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9780762753581 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OHZWEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22john+McCaffary+%22+mccaffery&pg=PA58|title=Historic Milwaukee Crimes: The Vengeful Seamstress, the Absconding Alderman and More|first=Carl|last=Swanson|date=February 23, 2022|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9781467150200 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.libraryireland.com/names/macg/mac-gafraidh.php|title=Mac Gafraidh - Irish Names and Surnames|website=www.libraryireland.com}}</ref>}} (c. 1820 – August 21, 1851) was an Irish-American farmer who was convicted and executed for the murder of his wife, Bridgett McCaffary. His execution by hanging was botched; he was unintentionally strangled for over 20 minutes until he died. His execution led to the abolition of capital punishment in Wisconsin.

==Murder of Bridgett McCaffary== On July 23, 1850,<ref name="Capital Times">{{cite news|title=Story of Murder and Hanging That Ended Death Penalty in Wisconsin |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/832595/death_of_john_mccaffery_18201851/|newspaper=The Capital Times|date=November 28, 1952|page=17|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = August 8, 2014 }} {{Open access}}</ref> Bridgett McCaffary (née McKean)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sewis/marriage.htm|title=Hac die 2 Mai 1848 in matrimonium conjumni Joannum McCaffary and Bridget McKean}}</ref> was drowned in a backyard cistern in Kenosha, a newly incorporated town in Kenosha County, Wisconsin. John McCaffary, an immigrant farmer from Ireland,<ref name="Citizenship"/> was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife. His trial began on May 6, 1851, and on May 23, 1851, the jury convicted him of willful murder. The judge sentenced him to death by hanging<ref name="Capital Times"/> and the death warrant was signed by Governor Nelson Dewey.<ref>{{cite news|title=Death Warrant |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/832600/death_warrant_for_john_mccaffary/|newspaper=Daily Free Democrat|date=July 8, 1851|page=2|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = August 8, 2014 }} {{Open access}}</ref>

The John McCaffary House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

===Botched execution and abolition of Wisconsin's death penalty=== thumb|300px|right|Burial marker in Green Ridge Cemetery, Kenosha

John McCaffary<ref name="Citizenship">{{Cite web|url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sewis/naturalization.htm|title=John McCaffary Application for US Citzenship}}</ref> was the only person ever to be executed by the state of Wisconsin. He was executed by hanging for the murder of his wife. McCaffary was hanged from a tree on August 21, 1851, before a crowd of 2,000 to 3,000 people in the area located now at the corner of 68th St and 14th Ave. The hanging was initially unsuccessful, and McCaffary remained alive and struggled on the end of the rope for approximately 20 minutes as he was slowly strangled. McCaffary was buried in the Green Ridge Cemetery in Kenosha. He was the first person executed by Wisconsin after it became a state of the United States in 1848.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-01-01 |title=5732 13th Court {{!}} National or State Registers Record |url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/NationalRegister/NR2116 |access-date=2025-05-23 |website=Wisconsin Historical Society |language=en}}</ref>

The spectacle of McCaffary's slow death in front of thousands led reformers in Wisconsin to press for abolition of the death penalty. On July 12, 1853, Wisconsin Governor Leonard J. Farwell signed a law that abolished the death penalty in Wisconsin and replaced it with a penalty of life imprisonment. The law is still in effect and no one has been executed by Wisconsin since McCaffary's death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-08-03 |title=The Death Penalty in Wisconsin |url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS2816 |access-date=2025-05-23 |website=Wisconsin Historical Society |language=en}}</ref>

== See also == * List of homicides in Wisconsin *Capital punishment in Wisconsin *List of most recent executions by jurisdiction

==Sources== *Cropley, Carrie. [http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wmh,19129 "The case of John McCaffary".] ''Wisconsin Magazine of History''. vol. 35, no. 4 (1951–1952) pp.&nbsp;281–288 *Hintz, Martin. (2007). ''Got Murder?: Shocking True Stories of Wisconsin's Notorious Killers''. Neenah, Wis.: Big Earth Publishing, {{ISBN|1-931599-96-3}}. *Pendleton, Alexander T. and Blaine R. Renfert. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060930170909/http://www.wisbar.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Wisconsin_s_legal_history "A Brief History of Wisconsin's Death Penalty,"] ''Wisconsin Lawyer''. August 1993

==References== {{notelist}} {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCaffary, John}} Category:1820s births Category:1851 deaths Category:19th-century Irish people Category:19th-century executions by the United States Category:19th-century executions of American people

Category:Farmers from Wisconsin Category:American people executed for murder Category:Botched executions in the United States Category:Foreign nationals executed in the United States Category:Irish emigrants to the United States Category:Irish people executed abroad Category:Irish people executed for murder Category:People executed by Wisconsin by hanging Category:People from Kenosha, Wisconsin Category:People convicted of murder by Wisconsin Category:Uxoricides in the United States Category:Violence against women in Wisconsin Category:19th-century American murderers