The final two executions in Newcastle took place on the same day, on 26th November 1919 within the walls of Newcastle Gaol. Strangely, both cases, though unconnected, bore several similarities (names, weapons, motives, etc.) and the crimes themselves took place within two days of each other.
The first related to the murder of Rebecca Quinn by her ex-sweetheart Ernest Scott on 11th August 1919, in Bebside, near Blyth. It was a simple case of a spurned lover not being able to live without his former companion - so he devised a plan to tempt her out into the open (the road from Bebside to New Delaval), attacked her and cut her throat with a razor. There were witnesses (including Rebecca's friend who was walking with her), and Scott admitted his guilt. The trial, therefore, was brief and definitive; and Scott’s life was cut short, by hanging, at 8am on the morning of 26th November.
The second murder was that of Elizabeth Quinn by her husband Ambrose Quinn on 9th August 1919. Serviceman Quinn, suspicious of his wife’s behaviour during his time away from home, embarked upon a campaign of accusations and threats during his leave period over the summer of 1919 - culminating in a brazen cut-throat attack in front of witnesses in Hawes Street, Scotswood. His trial was held at the same Newcastle Assizes as that of Ernest Scott’s case, and the result was identical: guilty, with the sentence being to be hanged at Newcastle Gaol. The execution - the very last in the city - took place at 9.15am on 26th November 1919, a mere 75 minutes after Scott’s demise.
Obviously, there was the coincidence of the repetition of the surname Quinn (both victims and one of the felons). Then there was the two-day gap between the murders - which themselves were remarkably similar as regards motive, and method of killing - and the ages of the respective couples were also identical. The two killers were then convicted at the same Assizes session, and executed on the same gallows a little more than an hour apart.
Criminals who were sentenced to death in Newcastle after 1919 were executed at Durham.
[for most of the detail above I have leant heavily on Maureen Anderson's Executions & Hangings in Newcastle & Morpeth (2005)]
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