William McHugh

William McHugh was sentenced to death at Durham Assizes on 13th July for the murder of Thomas Mooney at Barnard Castle. Early on the morning of 11th April, a witness saw McHugh and another man, William Gallagher, dragging Mooney down to a yard, where he was then thrown over a wall into the River Tees. As the victim was either drunk, or insensible through a blow to the head, he was unable to swim and drowned in the murky water. Gallagher had refused at the last minute to help McHugh throw the man into the river, and as a result he was acquitted, although the judge censured him for not stopping McHugh committing murder. He was hanged by William Marwood on the 2nd August 1875 in Durham.