A Mirage of Virtue: The Legalized Murder of Daniel Perry Sampson

This article is part of the Black Voices collection, an ongoing collaboration with Dalhousie Black Law Students’ Association.

Canada as we know it is a lie.

We have been fed a reality that placed Canada at the epicenter of equality and freedom, distinct from the horrid atrocities of our neighbours. We allowed ourselves to become an adjudicator of other nations' human rights violations without addressing our own extensive list of shortcomings.

Introspection has rushed forward, forcing us to answer to our own stained history. Our nation reeks of false virtuousness, and the stench has become too strong to bear. The wrongful conviction and execution of Mr. Daniel Perry Sampson is an especially pungent example.

Who was Daniel Perry Sampson?

Records, when pieced together, offer glimpses of Sampson’s life. He lived in the African Nova Scotian community of Beechville and, later, just below Citadel Hill. He enlisted in the No. 2 Construction Battalion during the first World War. After returning, Sampson married Rita-Mae. They had two children, Lizzie and Arthur. Locally, he was known as a familiar figure in the city’s working-class “soldier town,” often wearing gaiters and a broad-trimmed hat.

The Accusation

In 1933, Bramwell and Edward Heffernan, two young white boys, were found dead along railway tracks. Although the Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigators and media initially reported the deaths as accidental, speculation around foul play escalated into public concern. In the background, social and economic changes fostered fears of “social ills” caused by a “criminal class,” and racial hostility intensified as the Ku Klux Klan rose.

From the start, the pursuit of justice in Sampson’s case was compromised. Sampson was identified as the “coloured man” in a foil bias lineup composed of him and white men. His race, rather than recognition, determined identification. Additionally, Sampson had allegedly signed a confession with an “X.” However, records show Sampson regularly signed his name as he had learnt to read and write during his military service. A later analysis showed the handwriting of the confession and the “X” were authored by the same person. That person was not Sampson.

The Jury

Canadian law codified racism. Nova Scotia's Juries Act operationalized systemic exclusion. It required qualifications most African Nova Scotians could not meet because of prevalent, historically-entrenched, systemic barriers. The requirements from the Act ensured an all-white courtroom in Sampson’s trial. Moreover, Sampson challenged potential jurors for bias. Some prospective jurors admitted they had predetermined he was guilty, and more than half of them openly admitted to being prejudiced against Sampson. Still, the jury recommended mercy. It held no weight.

The Execution

In the early morning of March 7th, 1935, Sampson hung lifeless behind the county jail on Spring Garden Road. This was the last hanging in Halifax.

It has taken 90 years for the cries of injustice to finally be heard. Thanks to the help of lawyers like David Steeves, this case is now sitting in front of the Federal Justice Minister and the Criminal Conviction Review Group. Still, what can they offer the family of a man who has been wrongfully labeled a murderer for close to a century? What restitution can they offer to his now deceased widow and kids who lived through the story we have the privilege of only recounting? I cannot imagine any apology proportional to this wrong.

One thing is certain.

Canada needs to step away from the glistening image of its own blameworthiness and acknowledge the scent of its hypocrisy.