The Exploits of Patty Cannon

Serial Murderer and Kidnapper Extraordinaire

Sep 2, 2009 Maureen Zieber

Kidnapping, smuggling and murder tend to be the exploits of a male hardened criminal. Sometimes in history the face of hideous crimes is a woman. This face: Patty Cannon.

The life of a criminal is never without drama and intrigue. There are many one-time criminals, but there are serial criminals lurking in the gloom of everyday life. These criminals are experts in their field. They know how to hide, where to hide, and how to survive without being caught until they get sloppy or outsmarted. Some criminals, they are caught within days, weeks or months. Other criminals, they are free to kill and commit crime for years. One such criminal that eluded the law and has made a name for herself in the Delmarva Peninsula was Patty Cannon.

The Cloudy Beginnings of Patty Cannon

The birthplace of Patty Cannon is suspect. Where she was originally from is contradicted by any author who as written about her. She was strong, and attractive; with black hair and a fair complexion. Patty Cannon is known to have married a man by the name of Jesse Cannon. Together they had at least one daughter. Jesse Cannon was a farmer who lived on the boarder of Maryland and Delaware, in an area known during that time as Johnson’s Crossroads, in Sussex County, Delaware. The family lived there on the property until Jess Cannon’s death. The death was sudden and was said to have happed sometime before or during 1826.

Before the death of Jesse, her daughter married a man named Joe Johnson. He was a kidnapper of slaves and free African Americans, which were then sold back into slavery. After Jesse Cannon died, Patty then moved 100 yards, across the street, to a tavern in Dorchester County, Maryland, where she worked and lived. This tavern happened to be owned and operated by Joe Johnson. Since Patty Cannon couldn’t afford the upkeep of the farm, she rented it out to tenant farmers, who took care of the property and lived on it as well.

The Ups and Downs of a Criminal Life

Patty Cannon began her life of crime in Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania in the early 1800’s. Patty began her exploits into crime as early as living on the farm in Delaware. Folklore of the area states that Jesse Cannon was into the kidnapping trade and taught Patty anything she would need to know concerning the business. Once Patty and Joe joined forces, The Patty Cannon Gang began to strengthen. The gang operated out of the tavern that Joe owned and Patty lived in. The gang became experts at hunting down free African Americans, stealing them, and selling them into slavery. When free African Americans were scarce, they would travel to farms, steal slaves, and then sell the stolen goods back into slavery. During this time, late 1700’s and early 1800’s, slave stealing was a notable offence, where the prosecuted would get a set number of lashings from an executioner, as well as time in the pillory.

Patty Cannon was not caught in the act. What did catch up with her, was her past crimes. The year was 1829. It was during plowing season on her farm when the tenant living on the property got stuck in a sink hole, which turned out to be a grave of a man. The field in question was across the street from the tavern. When authorities were called in, a search on the premises was conducted, and three more graves were located. The bodies where said to have been a slave trader that Patty had killed years prior for his money, two children, and an infant. For a few months she eluded her captors by running over the state line as police would come from one state or the other, but finally turned herself over the Maryland powers that be.

By the time Patty Cannon was arrested, she was out of the kidnapping business, since her gang and friends turned against her. When she was arrested, the Maryland police escorted her across the street to her farm where Delaware police took her to Georgetown Correctional Facility for trial. While in the facility, folklore states that she confessed to the poisoning of her late husband Jesse Cannon. Patty Cannon never had a trial. It was said that she poisoned herself in her jail cell, with a poison she smuggled in. She died in late 1829. In the transporting of her bones years later, a skull that was said to have been hers made a journey from one private owner to another, until it ended up in the Dover Library, where it is currently stored out of view. The life of Patty Cannon was horrific and the perfect breeding ground for folk tales. To this day, her story and afterlife is one big enigmatic drama.

• Collins, Winfield Hazlitt. (1904). The Domestic Slave Trade of the United States. New York, New York: Broadway Publishing Company.
• Giles, Ted. (1965). Patty Cannon, Woman of Mystery. Easton, Maryland: Easton Publishing Company.
• Shields, J. (1990). The Infamous Patty Cannon in History and Legend. Dover, DE: Bibliotheca Literaria Press, 1990.

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Sign in front of Patty Cannon's property.