In 1906, a gruesome murder took place in Albert County, which would lead to the contentious hanging of a young man named Tom Collins. Tom Collin found his way to Albert County in the fall of 1906, where he stayed with the parish priest of New Ireland, north of present day Fundy National Park. Collins was there about a week when the priest left on church business. When the priest returned, the priest found that his closet doors, seen here, had been broken into with an axe. More-so, he eventually found the body of his housekeeper Mary Ann McAuley in the woodshed with an axe wound to the back of her head and her throat slit. Tom Collins could not be located in the area but was eventually found north of the community of St. George.
Tom Collins would be tried three times for the murder of Mary Ann McAuley, and is thought to be the first man in Canada ever to be tried for the same crime in three separate trials. All three trials would be held at the then newly constructed court house in Hopewell Cape, constructed only two years earlier. Tom was the only prisoner ever to be hanged at the Albert County Gaol, and one of the last men hanged in New Brunswick following his final guilty verdict. His case was referenced in the Supreme Court to justify the Double Jeopardy amendment to the Canadian Criminal Code.
Hear more about the story of the Tom Collins on The Podcast Hub: Tosh Taylor: https://soundcloud.com/thepodcasthub/ep-4-the-story-of-the-albert-county-ax-murderer-tom-collins