Talk:Henry Debosnys

Notability of subject
The LEAD sentence says that the subject "... was a man who was hanged for murder of his third wife, ..." But is this really why the subject is notable? Being hanged for murder would have been a fairly common method of executing murderers in the 1880's, I would have thought. So I do not think the method of execution is really notable, nor is the crime of murder particularly notable, even of an allegedly third wife. What is more notable, in my opinion, is that the subject was "... the second and last person to be hanged in Essex County." and that "... His skull and the noose he was hanged with are on display ... " in a museum. Usually, executed people are buried, so the fact he "... sold his body in advance to a local doctor for $15 ..." is a rather macabre way to profit from his crimes, which makes this subject additionally notable. Seen in that light, I think the first sentence is inadequate. - Cameron Dewe (talk) 09:42, 2 May 2022 (UTC)


 * Makes sense, I was mostly just trying to build the article up from a stub. I think truly the reason people have heard of him nowadays is either his skull being in the museum and the ciphertext code that he created which, if real, is interesting for never having been cracked and is often discussed in cipher communities. Feel free to rewrite the lede if you can think of a better way to put it all together. Jessamyn (my talk page) 23:37, 2 May 2022 (UTC)