Jewish convicts

I was just on the phone to my mother. One of the things she told me was a new little bit of information on a curious bit of Australian Jewish history.

Way back in Australia's convict days lived Joseph Samuel. He was transported in 1801 for stealing. He was part of the first Jewish gang in Australian history, in fact, as the leader of the group responsible for the break-in and death was also Jewish, an ex-convict turned policeman called Ikey Simmons. In 1803 Samuel was implicated in the murder of a policeman and sentenced to death. On the way to hanging, he said that Ikey Simmons was the guilty party, not him.

Before Samuel stepped onto the cart to face his fate, the rope had been tested to three times his weight. Once, the rope snapped and the hanging failed. Twice, the cart moved and the rope slipped and the hanging failed. Three times, the rope snapped and the hanging failed.

Governor King commented on the possibility of divine intervention as he examined the frayed rope: Samuel's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment*. He became known as "the man they couldn't hang."

All this is well-known. What is new to me is what one of the people told Mum when she was guiding a group round the Museum. "It happened on the Day of Atonement." Mum checked it out, and sure enough, the hanging was on Yom Kippur.

* He didn't accept this. He was killed two years later, trying to escape from that life imprisonment.