conviction_status death_place death_date conviction conviction_penalty birth_date article_title name
executed thomaston , maine 21 november 1885 first degree murder death by hanging c. 1845 daniel wilkinson -lrb- murderer -rrb-
 daniel wilkinson
daniel wilkinson -lrb- murderer -rrb-

daniel wilkinson -lrb- c. 1845 -- november 21 , 1885 -rrb- was the last person to be executed by maine .
he was hanged for the murder of a police officer after a burglary in bath , maine .
in the early morning hours of september 4 , 1883 , wilkinson and his accomplice john ewitt were caught attempting to break into the d.c. gould ship chandlery and provision store in bath .
as wilkinson and ewitt were running away from one police officer , they collided with constable william lawrence .
wilkinson immediately shot lawrence in the head with a .32 caliber revolver .
wilkinson was arrested in bangor , maine less than a week after the incident and was charged with murder on september 11 , 1883 .
it was discovered that wilkinson was an escapee from the maine state prison .
ewitt had travelled to england ; his extradition was never sought by maine .
wilkinson 's trial began in the bath superior court on january 4 , 1884 .
he was convicted by the jury of first degree murder on january 7 , 1884 and was sentenced by the judge to death by hanging .
the death sentence was carried out at the maine state prison in thomaston on november 21 , 1885 .
wilkinson did not die instantly from the hanging but slowly died of strangulation .
the nature of wilkinson 's death , which was similar to the executions of two other inmates the previous april , was used by anti-death penalty activists to argue that maine should abolish the death penalty , which it did in 1887 .
