Newburyport was gripped with fear following the Great Fire of 1811, when nearly all of the downtown was destroyed. Residents whose wealth had been reduced to nothing still hadn't recovered their fortunes when in 1820 another arsonist emerged on the scene.
Just as the fire of 1811 was preceded by several failed arson attempts in the vicinity of Inn Street — noticed and doused before inflicting damage — a similar rash of small fires was reported in the downtown area in 1820.
Then, one night, a fire set by a purposeful hand broke out in a hay barn on Temple Street and spread to nearby buildings. An investigation of the incident uncovered a witness who said young Stephen Clark was to blame for setting the fire. The 14-year-old boy had been in some trouble before, and perhaps due to the misery left behind in the wake of the Great Fire, he was sentenced to pay the ultimate price.
While several family members provided an alibi for Stephen, he was sentenced to death based on the testimony of a woman who claimed the teen had admitted to the crime and threatened to set the whole city on fire when he had the chance. Over the cries of residents begging Salem court officials to commute his sentence, Stephen was hanged on May 10, 1821, at Winter Island in Salem.
"Such was his horror of death, that it was found necessary, amidst his cries and lamentations, actually to force him from his cell, and drag him to the place of execution. It is much to be doubted whether any person of ordinary sensibility and reflection could have viewed the officers of justice, overcoming with difficulty their natural repugnance to such a task, and dragging with violence a fellow being, a youth, a mere miserable and deluded boy, to the gallows," wrote Robert Rantoul Jr.
The possibility that Stephen had been falsely accused of the crimes, coupled with the horror of witnesses who were there at the hanging, formed the impetus for a movement to ban the death penalty in cases of arson. Rantoul's statement above was made to argue the merits of abolishing the death penalty.
Stephen's death was the last official capital punishment in the state for cases of arson.
Source: Newburyport News, June 1, 2011
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