Francisco (died 28 April 1876) was the last person to be

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. An enslaved person, he was hanged for the murder of his masters. In 1874, Francisco and two other slaves, Prudencio and Vicente, were arrested for having beat to death their masters, João Evangelista de Lima and his wife Josepha Marta de Lima. The act was committed in

Pilar, Alagoas Pilar is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Alagoas. Its population was 35,212 (2020) and its area is 249 km². On March 28, 1876, Pilar carried out the last official execution of Brazil when it hanged the slave Francisco Franc ...

. Francisco and Prudencio fled to Pesqueira; in a confrontation with police, Prudencio was killed and Francisco was captured. Vicente had fled to

Marechal Deodoro Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca (; 5 August 1827 – 23 August 1892) was a Brazilian politician and military officer who served as the first president of Brazil. He was born in Alagoas in a military family, followed a military career, and became a n ...

, where he was captured. At Francisco and Vicente's trial, they were both found guilty of the murders. Francisco was sentenced to death by hanging and Vicente was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

. Both appealed to

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

Dom Pedro II Dom PedroII (2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed "the Magnanimous" ( pt, O Magnânimo), was the second and last monarch of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, the seventh child of Em ...

for clemency; Francisco's appeal was denied and the emperor did not respond to Vicente's. Vicente later died in prison. Francisco's execution was carried out in Pilar on 28 April 1876. It was the last execution carried out by Brazil. Since 2000, an annual re-enactment of Francisco's last hours has been held in Pilar on 28 April. In part, the re-enactment is intended to celebrate the abolition of the death penalty in Brazil.

References

* Félix Lima Júnior, ''Última Execução Judicial no Brasil'' (Maceió: Edufal, 1979). *Aliny Gama
"Encenação em Alagoas lembra os 135 anos da última execução por pena de morte no Brasil"
uol.com.br, 28 April 2011.

historiadealagoas.com.br, 2 June 2015. 1876 deaths 1876 in Brazil 19th-century executions Brazilian people convicted of murder Brazilian slaves Executed Brazilian people People convicted of murder by Brazil People executed by Brazil by hanging People executed for murder People from Alagoas 1876 crimes in Brazil 1876 murders in South America 19th-century murders in Brazil