The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-08-03 00:00:00

EXECUTION AT CHELMSFORD.

Charles Joseph Revell, a gardener, was executed on
Monday morning at eight o'clock within the walls of
the late county gaol for Essex, at Chelmsford, now,
under the new Prisons Act, styled her Majesty's
prison, for the wilful murder of his wife, Eliza Revell,
by cutting her throat at Waltham Abbey.
The prisoner was tried before Lord Justice Thesiger
at the fate assizes for the county of Essex, and it was
the first case in which the paintul duty has devolved
upon that learned judge to pass a sentence of death
since his elevation to the judicial bench. The evidence
clearly established the guilt of the prisoner, and the
offence was one of a very heinous character. Toe pri-
soner was employed as a gardener by a gentleman
in the neighbourhood where he resided, and was earn-
ing good wages, but he appeared to have squandered
nearly all the money he earned in drink, and his wife
was compelled to go out to work at a jute mill to pro-
vide means for the support of her family, consisting
of two children. On the Saturday previous to
the fatal deed being perpetrated, he had not only
spent all his own money, but had obtained 3s. from
his wife, and her endeavours to get this money back
from him led to the fatal quarrel which ended in her
death. The two went on the Sunday to dine with
their father and mother, and upon the deceased
insisting that the prisoner should give her the 33.,
and that ic should not be spent in drink, he knocked
her down, and then ran out- of the house, followed by
the deceased. The prisoner made use of violent
threats as to what he would do if she persisted in
following hin, but the deceased declared she would
not go away until he returned her the 35., and they
were seen walking through the forest :in an excited
state, the prisoner being at the time in a state of semi-
intoxication. The wretched woman was never again
seen alive, but on the following morning her body was
discovered in the forest, with her throat cut almost
from ear to ear. The prisoner was at once sus-
pected of the crime, but although when he was first ap-
prehended he made several statements that were tanta-
mount to an admission that he had committed the
murder, he subsequently endeavoured to make out that
the deceased had committed suicide, and on the morn-
ing of his trial he expressed a confident assurance
that he would be acquitted, as he said there was
nothing but circumstantiil evidence against him, and
that the jury would not convict him in the absence of
positive proof that he was guilty of the murder. The
facts, however, were so clear that no doubt could he
entertained of his guilt, and the case was of such an
aggravated character that it appears no efforts have
been made from any quarter to obtain a copmutation
of the sentence of death.

Since his conviction the prisoner seems to have con-
ducted him-elf very well, and he has admitted the
justice of hi g sentence. He was visited on Wednesday
in last week by the mother of the deceased woman
and his two children. On Sunday night he went to
bed at nine o'clock and slept till half-past five. He
would not take any breakfast, but at his special re-
quest the Rev. Mr. Lumley, the chaplain of the gaol,
administered the Holy Sacrament to the culprit, who
said that that should be his last meal. He walked
to the scaffold with a firm step. The prisoner fell a
distance of five feet, and his toes touched the ground.
He appeared to struggle very little. Captain Brid-
worth, the high sheriff of the county, Mr. Gepp, the
under sheriff, Captain ArGarraway, the governor of
the goal, and Mr. Cooke, the surgeon, were the only
persons, except the warders and Marvvood, the exe-
cutioner, who were present at the execution.