The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-08-02 00:00:00

EXECUTION OF CATHERINE WEBSTER.

On Tuesday morning, at nine o'clock, Catherine
Webster, aged 30, was executed in Wandsworth Prison
for the murder of Mrs. Thomas. At the very last
moment she made a full confession of her crime, stating
that all the accusations which she had made against
others were false, and that she alone murdered her
aged and helpless mistress. She attempted, however,
to palliate her crime by saying that she was excited by
drink at the time, and that, on being upbraided by her
mistress for it, she knocked her downstairs and
strangled her.

The place of executip was on the south side of the
entrance to the gaol, in a courtyard. The bell com-
menced to toll at a quarter to nine o'clock, and the
prisoner, who appeared at last resigned to her fate,
came forth, leaning on the arm of her confessor,
Father M'Enry. They had to descend a flight of
stairs to reach the place of execution, where Mar wood
commenced the process of pinioning the prisoner, and
placed her under the drop. The priest read the Roman
Catholic service, and when E 4 the words, Jesus,
good shepherd, come," the prisoner responded in a
loud voice, "Lord, have mercy upon me," and the bolt
was immediately drawn. The execution was carried
out with strict privacy, no representative of the Press
being allowed to be present, and the greatest difficulty
was experienced in obtaining the alighest information
respecting the prisoner.—We take the following par-
ticulars from the Evening Standard:—
" It has already been made known that she has
given several statements relating to the terrible
tragedy, all of which were evidently put forward with
the object of showing that she was not the actual
murderess of the deceased, and they were so contradic-
tory and incoherent that no one could place tha least
reliance upon them. So long, however, as the
prisoner entertained the least hope that her
life might possibly be spared, she persisted in
the truth of these statements, and when she
was informed at the close of last week
that she must abandon all hope of a respite, and that
the sentence of the law would certainly be carried out,
she evidently felt that it was useless to persist in a
course of falsehood, and she, in the first instance,
made a confession to her confessor, Father M'Ennery,
and subsequently to Captain Colvin, the governor of
the prison, that she, alone, committed the murder, and
that all the other persons whom she had from time to
time implicated in the affair were entirely innocent.
The statement has been taken down in detail and has
been transmitted to the Secretary of State.
"It will be recollected that it was proved at the
trial that the deceased lady when she was last seen in
the chapel on the evening of the 2nd of March ap-
peared to be very excited, and the Prisoner seems to
have stated that she and the deceased lady had had
some words before she went out on this evening, and on
her return the altercation was resumed, and she herself
had been drinking and was very excited, and struck the
deceased,who fell, and upon looking at her she found she
was dead. The prisoner appears to represent that the
act was quite unpremeditated, but upon seeing that
her mistress was dead, the thought came into her head
to endeavour to get rid of the body and to possess her-
self of the property of the deceased. The rest of the
statement is virtually in accordance with the evidence
given at the trial. Through her confession she ex-
pressed at different times a hope that those persons
would forgive her the injury she had done them by ac-
cusing them falsely of such a terrible crime.

"The Prisoner appears to be an entire stranger in
London, and no one has visited her since her convic-
tion except her solicitor, Mr. O'Brien, and the Rev.
Father M'Ennery. It is understood that a memorial
was sent to the Home Secretary, praying for a com-
mutation of the sentence, and on Thursday in last
week Mr. Justice Denman, who tried the prisoner, had
an interview with Mr. Cross. It may readily be in-
ferred that the learned judge expressed his opinion that
there were no facts to justify an opinion that the jary
had not given a correct verdict, and, consequently, the
law was left to take its course.
"As early as seven o'clock in the morning two or
three hundred persons had assembled outside the
prison, a good many of them being well-dressed mad
respectable persons. Father M'Ennery came to the
gaol shortly before eight o'clock, and he at ODee
proceeded to the prisoner's cell, and remained in
prayer with her till the hour appointed for the execu-
tion. She appeared at the last to be very penitent
and resigned, and it appeared that she walked to the
scaffold without any assistance. Marwood speedily
placed the rope round her neck, and she fell nearly six
feet. It was stated that she appeared to die without
a struggle.
- -

"The black flag was hoisted at five minutes past
nine o'clock, and when it made its appearance there
was a slight cheer from a small portion of the as-
sembled crowd. After hanging an hour the body was
cut down."

The Daily News of Wednesday said :—" Another
correspondent states that Webster, after making a
short confession late on Monday night to the effect
that she, and she alone, committed the deed, told
Father M'Enery, the Roman Catholic chaplin, that
she felt relieved at having unburdened her conscience,
and that she would sleep more calmly on that, her last
night on earth, than she had done since her condemna-
tion. She retired to rest soon after ten, and slept
fairly well. She arose soon after five on Tuesday
morning, and was at once visited by the Governor of
the Prison, Captain Colville, whose kindness to her
since she has been under his care the convict has
spoken highly of."

The Daily Chronicle says :—" How Catherine
Webster died can only be made known from hearsay.
The prison authorities decreed that not a single mare-
sentative of the Press should be present at the exu-
tion. The Rev. Father M'Enery in effect states that
the prisoner showed great firmness, and died with a
penitential "dignity." Her character in prison,
he adds, has been that of a woman of firm
courage, coupled with gentleness. As through-
out the trial and her incarceration, she behaved
with the greatest composure, as of a woman
who suppressed her emotion, so
.at the last trying
moment, it is said, she was likewise steadfast and re-
signed, walking calmly to the scaffold, and giving no
trouble. From the time she confessed her guilt on the
night before the eventful morrow, she gave herself up
to her fate, regretting only that some of her friends had
not visited her; but she was not desirous of seeing her
child, as she stated that the interview would be too
painful."