Prospect Cemetery
Section 13 Lots 415 & 416
In the early hours of December 11, 1962, Toronto’s Don Jail became the stage for Canada’s final judicial executions. Arthur Lucas, 54, a US-born pimp and alleged contract killer, and Ronald Turpin, 29, a career criminal from Ottawa, were hanged back-to-back on a single gallows – two ropes, one trapdoor. Their deaths marked the last time capital punishment was carried out in Canada, though the death penalty was not formally abolished until 1976 and removed from the Criminal Code in 1998.
Turpin’s crime occurred on February 12, 1962, when he fatally shot Constable Frederick Nash during a gunfight after robbing a Scarborough restaurant. Lucas was convicted of murdering Therland Crater, a US drug trial witness hiding in Toronto, whose body was found with gunshot wounds and a slashed throat. Both men were sentenced under Canada’s mandatory death penalty for capital murder.
The executions were overseen by the hangman known as “Jack Ellis,” who had performed 15 hangings since 1953. He calculated rope lengths using sandbags to ensure a swift drop and was paid $500 per man. Salvation Army chaplain Lt.-Col. Cyril Everitt ministered to the men for 10 months and read Psalm 23 as they stood on the scaffold. Outside, about 150 protesters gathered, signaling growing opposition to the death penalty.
Lucas requested Psalm 35 before his execution: “Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt…” Turpin wrote a note forgiving someone who had wronged him, stating: “I can’t go into eternity with feelings of resentment on my soul.”
At 12:02 a.m., the trap fell. Sixteen minutes later, both men were pronounced dead. Their bodies were quietly removed through a side door and buried in unmarked graves at Prospect Cemetery, side by side in Section 13. For years, Everitt visited their graves, later confessing: “To this day, I don’t believe it pleased Almighty God.”
The double hanging sparked national debate, accelerating the movement to abolish capital punishment. Today, their resting place in Prospect Cemetery stands as a stark reminder of justice, morality and the irreversible finality of the death penalty in Canada.
Sources:
• Capital Punishment in Canada – Wikipedia
• The Canadian Encyclopedia – Capital Punishment
• Ronald Turpin – Wikipedia
• Arthur Lucas – Wikipedia
• Mount Pleasant Group Archives – Lucas & Turpin
Photo: Pat Farrell
