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Dancing on Air: A Tale of Vengeance, Mercy and the End of the Death Penalty in Newfoundland
Set in the turbulent decade before confederation, Dancing on Air is a drama of justice and injustice which begins in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland in the spring of 1942 with the trial of Herbert Spratt for the brutal murder of Josephine O'Brien. A guilty verdict with a strong plea for mercy results in a death penalty. The final decision must be made by the British governor, Sir Humphrey Walwyn.
The story repeats itself six years later. In February 1949, nineteen-year-old Alfred Beaton is tried in Supreme Court for the killing of Dorothea Manuel during a night of terror in the small community of Norris Arm on the central northeast coast of Newfoundland. Again a guilty verdict results in a death sentence but without a plea for mercy. The new British governor, Sir Gordon Macdonald, must also decide between life and death. While the governor is making his decision, a mysterious individual named Portia emerges from the political wilderness of 1940s Newfoundland. In a moving plea for mercy, Portia tries to turn the tide of public opinion against the death penalty.
Eric Colbourne offers us a gripping account of a flawed justice system, the agony of victims of violence, and a political awakening in Newfoundland. With its cast of powerful characters the story reads like fiction but what happened is all too real.
The story repeats itself six years later. In February 1949, nineteen-year-old Alfred Beaton is tried in Supreme Court for the killing of Dorothea Manuel during a night of terror in the small community of Norris Arm on the central northeast coast of Newfoundland. Again a guilty verdict results in a death sentence but without a plea for mercy. The new British governor, Sir Gordon Macdonald, must also decide between life and death. While the governor is making his decision, a mysterious individual named Portia emerges from the political wilderness of 1940s Newfoundland. In a moving plea for mercy, Portia tries to turn the tide of public opinion against the death penalty.
Eric Colbourne offers us a gripping account of a flawed justice system, the agony of victims of violence, and a political awakening in Newfoundland. With its cast of powerful characters the story reads like fiction but what happened is all too real.
192 pages, Paperback
First published April 14, 2015
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