Capital Punishment is when a person receives a death penalty for a crime they committed. There are five types of capital punishment: lethal injection, lethal gas, firing squad, hanging and electrocution. Canada in the 1860s was open to the idea of capital punishment, a person could be executed for murder and treason in Upper and Lower Canada. In 1961 murder was classified in two categories in Canada; capital and non-capital. Capital punishment was given for a deliberate murder and the murder of a police officer or guard while on duty. In 1962 the last death sentence was given out and in 1976 capital punishment was finally removed from the criminal code, but still remained in the Canadian National Defense Act, for the most serious military offenses.
If the story of “Two Fisherman” was based in Canada it could have taken place anywhere from the 1860s to almost a century later in 1976. This is because up to 1976 the premeditated murder of a civilian could have received capital punishment.

In my opinion, if “Two Fishermen” is taken place in present day US, then the death penalty was not justified for the situation. In the US the death penalty is given if a person commits one of six specific crimes. Thomas Delaney didn’t commit any of these six crimes and he shouldn’t have been hanged. Also, Thomas Delaney attacked Mathew Reinhardt in defense of his wife, so in my opinion he deserved some kind of punishment for killing Mathew Reinhardt but not capital punishment.