The Murder of Margaret Cameron — 1775

In 1775, Alexander Cameron was accused of beating his wife, Margaret Cameron, to death in St. John's.

There were no eyewitnesses to the actual killing. Prosecutors therefore had to rely on circumstantial evidence.

The complex relationship between surgeons' evidence, verdicts, and the pardon process is apparent in the trial of Alexander Cameron for murder in 1775.

Cameron was indicted for the beating death of his wife, Margaret, at St. John's. Since no one had witnessed the homicide, the prosecution opened with circumstantial evidence.

Several witnesses recounted how they had heard suspicious noises in Cameron's apartment during the night Margaret Cameron had died.

William Roy, a neighbour, testified that the accused had called out that his "wife was gone," upon which he went to Cameron's room and found the deceased lying on the floor unconscious.

Roy reported that he had seen bruises on the body; other witnesses also related past episodes of Cameron's beatings, but only the surgeons' evidence directly connected the assault to the homicide.

Signed by Thomas Dodd and two other surgeons, the post-mortem report stated that the body was "of a healthy make," and they were "of opinion that the blows she received on the breast, abdomen and thighs are the immediate cause of her death."

Curiously, the court did not cross-examine the surgeons. Given that the deceased had suffered from no known illness, the findings of the post-mortem were perhaps not a moot point. Yet the absence of any discussion of the medical evidence is likely explained by the fact that Thomas Dodd, one of the surgeons who did the post-mortem, also sat as a judge in Cameron's trial. 

Dodd was obviously not in a position to question his own medical expertise.

With Cameron's defence resting essentially upon his previously respectable social status, the jury found him guilty of murder. In their report, the judges recommended mercy on the grounds of doubts whether there had been real intent to murder and, perhaps more importantly, because of Cameron's "known good character."

Although the conviction hinged on post-mortem evidence, neither the judges nor the governor commented upon it in their letters, and Cameron was granted a free pardon. Throughout this process, contemporary attitudes toward violence against women unquestionably encouraged both the bench and the government to favour mercy.

What they did not dispute was that poor Margaret Cameron was still beaten to death.

Resource: Law and Forensic Medicine in Early Newfoundland: Case Study 2 https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/case-study-two-law-forensic-medicine.php