The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-11-23 00:00:00

EXECUTION OF THE LLANGIBBY
MURDERER.

Joseph Garcia, the Spanish seaman who was con-
demned to death by Barmn Bramwell at Gloucester
assizes for the murder of William Watkins, his wife,
and three children, at Llangibby, was executed
within Usk goal on Monday morning. It will be re-
membered that the only evidence against the prisoner
was of a circumstantial character, and he has new under-
gone the last penalty of the law, declaring his innocence
the horrible crime. The convict was in a bad condition
on first being admitted to the Usk County . Gaol,
owing to the determined, attempts made fo lynch
him at the railway station. After a short time
he regained • the stolid demeanour which he has ex-
hibited since his arrest, and slept and ate well and
regularly. During the whole time he hae. been
incess4ntly- visited.. by . the Roman Catholic priest
of Vsk and a Spanish- priest .from London, and they
have lased • every effort to bring-- before him the cer—
lainty of his fate;. no recommendation to merry
having accompanied the verdict.. kid no ,effort
having been made in the • neighbodihood to obtain
the. Royal clemency. It has only been within the
past week that Garcia has seemOd to realise the
awful situation in which he was placed, and his trepi-
dation has been very apparent to the prison officials.
Instead of quietly slumbering by night, his sleep has
been very restless and he has eaten very little food.
His attention to the ministrations of his spiritual ad-
visers has become more marked, and it was expected
that before his death he would leave on record some
statement as to his connection or otherwise with the
tragedy. In this belief, however, the officials have
been deceived.

Eight o'clock was the time fixed for the execution,
but long before that time hundreds of persons as-
sembled outside the walls of the gaol with a hope of
obtaining a sight of the carrying out of what everyone
in the Principality considers a fitting sentence on the
fivefold murderer. No one, however could catch a
glimpse of the scaffold, notwithstanding that some of
the more adventurous climbed trees which overlooked
the prison wall. The execution tlok place in an
angle of the prison near the magistrates' room. The
rope was an unusually thick one, was eleven feet long,
and provided for a drop of eight feet. Shortly before
eight Garcia, attended by two priests and the Spanish
Consul, was conducted to the pinioning-room, where
Marwood was in readiness to pinion him. At the
sight of the preparations he fainted, and Marwood
had to carry out the preliminaries while he was
being sustained by the officials. A priest during
this time was saying prayers for the repose of his soul.
The culprit slightly recovered for a moment or two,
and then the Spanish Consul, reminding him that he
was about to be launched into eternity, implored him
to say whether the charge against him was true or
not. The Prisoner answered in a distinct voice that
he was innocent of the murder. The procession then
f armed and proceeded to the scaffold. On the drop
being adjusted a priest held a crucifix to his lips, but
he only slightly kissed it, and it was apparent that he
was almost unconscious. Death was instantaneous.
A black flag hoisted in the prison indicated that the
dread sentence had been carried out.

- - -
An inquest was subsequently held, and the body
buried within the precincts of the gaol.