old. He had grown up in her household and participated in her crimes, sometimes serving as a decoy to make free blacks feel safe in working with him on a task. Death Cannon confessed to nearly two dozen murders of black kidnap victims, and died in prison while awaiting trial. Cannon died in her cell, in Georgetown, Delaware, on May 11, 1829, at an age estimated to be between sixty and seventy. Sources differ as to whether she was convicted and sentenced to hang before her death. Shields asserts that she committed suicide. Other sources contend that she died of natural causes. The novel The Entailed Hat attributes her death to self-administered poison. Burial Her body was initially buried in the graveyard of the Georgetown, Delaware jail. Before that land was developed as a parking lot in the 20th century, her remains, along with those of two other women, were exhumed and reburied in a potter's field near the new jail. Public display of her skull Her skull was separated from the rest of her bones, lying in the pauper's grave or potter's field, when a future parking lot was being excavated and later put on display in various venues, including on loan to the Dover Public Library in 1961. It was loaned to the Smithsonian in 2010 to allow scientists to learn more about settler life in the Chesapeake. Legacy In the 1990s, a historical marker was placed on the highway near what is sometimes called the "Patty Cannon House" in Reliance, Maryland, but this structure was built about 1840. A PBS history series proved the marker was placed on land which Joe Johnson bought in 1821 for $150, and Patty Cannon bought from him in 1826. Her own residence, which was built in the 18th century, stood several hundred yards away and was torn down in 1948. "Nearby Stood" was later added to the marker. In 2012, a new marker, which more explicitly details the horrors committed by the Cannon/Johnson gang, was erected across the state line from the previous marker. A housing development, which was established in 1973, stands on the Delaware side of the Nanticoke River and is named the Patty Cannon Estates. Representation in other media Narrative and Confessions of Lucretia P. Cannon (1841), published anonymously in New York. This pamphlet inspired others, in which the main character's name and crimes were changed. These pamphlets