27 Nine Young Prisoners

In 1848, nine young men were convicted of treason against the queen of England. The penalty for this crime was death. These men had to be dealt with strongly because they could not be allowed to set a bad example. Although the popular with the convicted young men, a judge sentenced them to be hanged.

Sided court case drew a great deal of public interest, and the nine men finally became famous. Protests against their punishment were held. Queen Victoria then decided not to carry out the death sentence, but instead sentenced them to spend the rest of their lives in the penal colonies of Australia.

This change of sentence was fortunate for everyone, because the nine men all went on to become prominent leaders. One had a brilliant career in the United States politics, and his son was to become mayor of New York City. Another, Tom McGee, became a member of the Canadian House of Commons. Two others became generals in the Union Army during the Civil War. Richard O'Gormon became governor of Australia and Michael General Ireland succeeded him. Tom Meagher became brigadier general of the Union Army and founded the Irish Brigade.

The success of all of the nine men eventually came to the attention of Queen Victoria in a curious way. In 1871 she found herself dealing with the ninth man, the newly elected prime minister of Australia. It was Charles Duffy, a person whom she had saved from hanging. When she heard of the success of the others, she realized that by cheating the hangman she had enriched humanity.

27 九名年轻囚犯

1848年，九名年轻男子因叛国罪被判定背叛英国女王。这项罪行的刑罚是死刑。这些人必须被严厉惩处，因为不能让他们树立坏榜样。尽管这些被定罪的年轻人颇受欢迎，但法官仍判处他们绞刑。

这起案件引起了公众的极大关注，这九个人最终声名鹊起。人们举行了反对对他们施以惩罚的抗议活动。维多利亚女王随后决定不执行死刑，而是判处他们在澳大利亚的流放地度过余生。

这一判决的改变对所有人来说都是幸运的，因为这九个人后来都成了杰出的领袖。其中一人在美国政界成就斐然，他的儿子后来成为纽约市市长。另一位名叫汤姆·麦吉的人成为加拿大下议院议员。还有两人在南北战争期间成为联邦军的将军。理查德·奥戈尔曼成为澳大利亚州长，迈克尔·爱尔兰将军继任了他的职位。汤姆·米格尔成为联邦军准将，并创立了爱尔兰旅。

这九个人的成功最终以一种奇特的方式引起了维多利亚女王的注意。1871年，她发现自己要与第九个人打交道——新当选的澳大利亚总理查尔斯·达菲，而这个人正是她从绞刑架下救下的。当她听说其他人的成功时，她意识到，通过“骗过”刽子手，她丰富了人类的成就。