Tom's story was particularly sad because it was about a life interrupted by error and injustice. Tom was wrongly accused of raping and murdering his stepdaughter, an eleven-year-old girl. He was captured and very quickly, almost without trial, was sentenced to hang. A step had already been knocked out from under his feet when a messenger rushed in with the news that the real culprit was the girl’s older brother, who, horrified by what he had done, pointed to his stepfather, but when he saw that his mother was almost distraught from losses, he confessed. Tom was literally pulled out of the noose, taken to the hospital, but they did not have time to save him.
Tom often cried that the death of the girl was his fault, that he did not properly raise the boy and let his whole family down, he never cried about himself.