Historian Doughton to Give Talk on ‘Notorious Arthur’

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2 Minutes

Thomas Doughton, lecturer in the Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies at the College of the Holy Cross, will give a talk titled "Notorious Arthur, An African American Executed at Worcester in 1768: Black Criminals and the Fellowship of Thieves in Colonial New England" on May 2 at 4 p.m. in Hogan, Room 408. The talk is free and open to the campus community.

The Notorious Arthur, Arthur Toby, executed in Worcester in October 1768, was, by far, one of the better known of 18th century slaves of central Massachusetts. A typically large crowd gathered at Worcester to watch him die, Westborough minister Ebenezer Parkman noting in his diary that he missed what was an event. While awaiting execution, Arthur produced a brief account of his crime-filled life. Reverend Thaddeus Maccarty of the towns First Church delivered a sermon on the day of the young man’s execution, the text including Arthur’s last words later published at Boston. On the Sunday after the execution, Reverend Aaron Hutchinson of Grafton delivered a lengthy reflection on Arthur’s life and crimes, a text which was also printed. Despite the attention his case attracted, Arthur was, however, one among a number of rogues, rascals, malefactors and infamous criminals of the 1760s who found their way to gallows in New England. Isaac Frasier, who in 1767 was incarcerated at Worcester when he and Arthur broke out of jail together, was known as the abominable or notorious Frasier. A month before Arthur’s execution in 1768, Frasier was hanged at Fairfield, Conn., for multiple burglaries. Like Arthur, Frasier distributed a brief account of his life. Similarly, a sermon by Reverend Noah Hobart of Fairfield was preached on the day of Frasier’s execution and was also published.

Ironically, Arthur was executed for an alleged rape rather than for his innumerable thefts and burglaries. Both Arthur and Frasier were, nonetheless, among an odd collection of thieves, burglars, counterfeiters and other miscreants of various ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. They formed themselves into bands of felons at a time of social and economic instability for New England communities. They became what historian Daniel Cohen called a fellowship of thieves, an underworld of 18th-century criminals.

This presentation will explore the lives and deaths of Arthur and other African Americans who were participants in a quasi-criminal subculture that gradually emerged in New England at the seamy margins of law abiding society, black felons whose life stories are detailed in surprisingly rich detail.

The event is sponsored by the Africana Studies Concentration and the Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies.

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