The Murder of Charlotte Hill

An Old Postcard of the Digby Road, Nova Scotia

The murder of Charlotte Hill is not really a mystery, although no one is really sure why she was murdered for sure.

A Mr. Isaiah Munro was about to harvest his hay crop in Greywood, south of Annapolis Royal, when he noticed a lot of smoke coming from one of his fields. He decided to investigate to see where the fire was and if it was endangering his field.

As he approached the smoke he could see flames rising up from under some rocks and he could smell something terrible like flesh burning. When he got right up to the fire he was horrified to see bones and a foot sticking out.

He ran right away and reported this to the police who came to investigate for themselves. When the coroner Dr. Bingay arrived they found it was a woman’s body hidden under the rocks and on fire. The legs were completely consumed but the upper body and the face was still recognizable. Upon further investigation they discovered that she had been about six months pregnant and had probably been alive when set on fire.

The police took pictures at the scene and then loaded the body into a box and took it to the station. The body was identified as Charlotte Hill, a long time resident of the Poor Farm in North Range, just past Digby.

Charlotte Hill had been one of eight illegitimate children born to Mary Purdy. Mary was unable to care for all her children so had sent Charlotte and others to the poor farm to live when Charlotte had been only a young girl.

Life at the poor house was not an easy one, the residents had to work for their keep, and work hard. At times there would be more residents there than they could feed and so the food at times was scarce.

However some people, once they arrived there had a hard time leaving. Charlotte had been there for over twenty years and looked much older than her thirty years. She had tried to leave several times but found she could just not make it on her own so would always come back.

The manager of the North Range Poor House, Joseph Thibault was a respected businessman in the area. He was only forty-five years old but had proven himself as a farmer, an expert cattle trader, a successful businessman and a pillar in the community.

The police started the investigation into Charlotte’s murder and soon started hearing reports of Mr. Thibault having been seen driving around with a young lady early on the morning of September 1st, the morning the body had been found. Witnesses said they had seen him and a woman travelling east going way too fast on poor roads very early in the morning. These same witnesses said he was later seen travelling west all alone in his carriage.

On September 3, only three days after the body was found police arrested Mr. Thibault for Charlotte Hill’s murder. Joseph claimed his innocence, he was a respected member of the community! But it did not take long for an angry mob to form. They were upset that a pillar of the community could do such a violent and brutal act. He was thought to be guilty before he even went to trail.

The trial started on December 1st and the court room in Annapolis Royal was packed. There were newspaper reporters from the Weekly Monitor, Weekly Journal, Halifax Chronicle, and the Saint John News, plus people from all over. Joseph’s lawyer, Robert Motton remarked on how much weight Joseph had lost since this began. He looked pale and did not show any emotion at all during the trial.

Besides several witnesses who testified as seeing Joseph and a woman travelling that morning, Charlotte’s best friend in the Poor House took the stand. She told the court that Charlotte had been very agitated the night before her disappearance and was packing to run away again.

Frank Barrett, a police officer reported that Joseph’s wagon had been discovered in the woods about 260 metres from Joseph’s barn all covered up with spruce boughs.

Herbert Rhoddy took the stand and said he had been out taking a load of lumber through the back roads by Munro’s when he spotted a partridge. He decided to chase the partridge and followed it across a swamp when he came across a basket full of woman’s clothing.

Joseph’s wife Anne was the last to take the stand, but after she was reminded that she did not have to testify against her husband she would not say a word.

In his closing arguments Joseph’s lawyer pointed out that the prosecution was trying to point this on Joseph saying he killed Charlotte Hill to try to cover up her pregnancy by him. He pointed out that he was too smart to have been out travelling with Charlotte Hill on public streets if he intended on killing her.

On December 6th, the final day of the trial, the judge pointed out to the jury in his closing remarks that Joseph had failed to provide an alibi. Less than two hours later the jury came back with a guilty verdict and Joseph was sentenced to death.

The only remarks Joseph made about that morning was just before he died he said he had been taking Charlotte Hill to another Poor House that morning and had stopped for breakfast. After he had the fire built to cook lunch she had thrown herself into the fire. He was unable to save her and he was afraid he would be blamed so he covered her up with branches.

The trial came at a time when hangings were no longer open to the public. The hanging of Joseph Thibault was to be held behind a 6 metre high fence. But on the day of the execution, February 8, 1881 about a thousand people showed up to watch. Angry that they would not be able to see they knocked down the fence. The judges, reporters and lawyers all watched from the courthouse windows.

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