The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-05-12 00:00:00

EXECUTION AT CHESTER.

On Tuesday morning, at eight o'clock, Patrick
Carey, alias John White, was executed at Chester
Ca‘tle Prison, for the murder of Thomas Earlam, a
lodging-house keeper at Smallwood, and Mary Moran,
his housekeeper.
Mar wood who had arrived in Chester on the pre-
vious night from Lincoln, visited the Castle at an
early hour in the morning, and inspected the scaffold
on which the condemned man was to be hanged. There
was a considerable crowd outside the prison walls from
about half-past seven o'clock. At about ten minutes to
eight the bell of St. Mary's Church,. which adjoins
the prison, tolled, and remained tolling until after the
execution. The black flag was hoisted over the
gate of the prison one minute after eight o'clock.
The condemned man went to bed at his usual hour on
Monday night, and slept very soundly. He rose and
dressed at five o'clock, and at half-past five was
visited by Father Pacificus, Roman Catholic chaplain,
who has been ministerially attending the prisoner
since his condemnation. The rev, father celebrated
mass in a cell, and Carey received the Eucharist. At
a few minutes to eight o'clock Marwood and the
officials appeared at the condemned cell, and Carey
was pinioned and led to the scaffold. The condemned
man did not betray any trepidation, but walked
firmly to the scaffold. He submitted his hands to be
pinioned and his head to be covered by the hangman
with the greatest coolness. The bolt was immediately
drawn, and the drop being 8i feet, death appeared to
bc instantaneous. Reporters were not admitted to
witness the execution, but immediately afterwards
Father Pacfficus volanteered the following informa-
tion to the representatives of the press :

"I have just to say that Carey was resigned to the
will of God and to his fate. He hoped that the Lord
would have mercy_npon him, and pardon all his past
sins and crimes. He acknowledged the justice of the
law, and that he deserved death. I cannot but speak
very highly of him. He died really penitatt. He
was very grateful to the governor and the officers of
the gaol for their kindness to him. He submitted
quietly to the process of pinioning, and when I,
fearing that he might be alarmed, endeavoured
to comfort him, be said, 'Don't trouble yourself
farther. lam not afraid.' He said prayers for the
reeommendation of his soul to God as far as the
scaffold, and then he repeated every prayer I was sug-
gesting to him. At the last moment he requested to be
allowed to kiss the crucifix I had in my hands. He did
so, and then I kissed him, and we parted. His last
words were a prayer for mercy, and he then went down
without a struggle."
Three masses, beginning at seven o'clock, were
offered up for Carey at the Franciscan Church at
Chaster, and there was also an exposition of the
Blessed Sacrament, which commenced about eight
o'clock.

An inquest was afterwards held at the Castle.

I The salt and fresh water tanks, which are built
.along the western boundary, are quite ready and
filled with water. In some of the lower compart-
ments a collection of live lobsters are getting accus-
tomed to captivity, and the starfish are learning to
attach themselves contentedly to the glass front
of their prison. The Messrs. Poland, of Billingsgate,
have sent the fine specimens of lobsters, gathered
from Norway, the Orkney Islands, and the West
of England. In the store pond, or stew, outside,
reserves of fresh water fish were disporting themselves.
From his park at Thetford Lord Walsingham, who is
reported to have wallowed in mud for hours together
at the netting, has sent 800 golden tench, lineal
descendants of the stock imported into England by
Mr. Berney, of Norwich, in 1852. There are also
some heavy common tench, rudd, roach, dace, carp,
pike, and perch. A few of the pike died after
arrival, the spawning season being of course highly
unfavourable for their transference. The largest
live pike will probably be one of from
Welbeck. The Marquis of Exeter will contri-
bute some of the black bass which he has so success-
fully acclimatized, and the Duke of Bedford varieties
of carp. Sir J. Gibson Maitland, whose fish-hatching
establishment near Stirling is one of the wonders of
Scotland, will send five hundred healthy specimens of
the American brook trout (fontinalis). . . The
specimens are brought to the gardens in ingeniously-
made carriers lent by Sir J. G. Maitland, and placed
at once in the stew, a long shallow basin, in which
pretty banks of wild flowers are to bloom. . .

Next to living fish, the stuffed specimens are coming
in freely. There are already sufficient cases of fishes
and birds to warrant the statement that it will be the
finest collection ever seen. Private sportsmen,
angling clubs, and professional naturalists have sent
their best

The foreigner at the Exhibition will give an excel-
lent account of himself. The Netherlands Section is
the most advanced. In 1881 the fishing fleet of this
maritime country has increased to 408 vessels and
4,840 sailors. Models of their luggers and cutters, and
a parfect canopy of nets down the entire court,
already render it a noteworthy show. The Dutchmen
naake a business of fresh water as well as sea fishing,
and many of the exhibits show their processes. . . .
In the Norwegian Section we have practical illus-
trations of the methods employed in the Lofoten cod
fishery, and other sea fisheries for which the country
is famous, not fewer than 40,000 fisherwen being
employed in the herring fishery alone. There will
be some interesting exhibits in this section relating
to the exciting pursuits of the Arctic sea, as may
be imagined from the statement that last year the
Norway men caught 386 whales, 6,000 seals, 148
walruses, 49 ice bears, and 260 reindeer. As to seals,
the result last year was a total of 100,000 sealskins and
19,000 barrels of fat and oil. Half a million of cod
fish were taken. This section is therefore a very large
one, and deals with everything connected with the
fisheries, from the bait used to catch capelin, to the
bows and arrows with which the whales are still occa-
sionally slain in the fiords. . . .

_
The Spanish Section is largely made up of exhibits
from the Naval Museum, and the sardine appears in a
variety of aspects.

- _
Sweden has long occupied an important position in
fish culture, and the fresh-water department is richly
stocked with exhibits of exceptional interest to the
salmon merchant and breeder. Switzerland is back-
ward with its consignments. China, India, and
Ceylon and some of our antipodean colonies are
under the same roof in the main eastern annexe
The decorations at the New South Wales end are ex-
cellent,

Other foreign countries having courts of their own
are Russia, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Hawaia,
Ahstria, Chili, France, Italy, Greece, and Japan.
Canada has a large and most interesting court.

The United States Section, from its popular attrac-
tions, and still more for its intrinsic value scientifically
and commercially, should have received first instead of
last mention. The expense devotedto it by the American
Government, and the skill with which the details are
being arranged by the Commissioners, under Professor
Goode, are rewarded by a splendid general collection.
The field covered by the exhibits may be surmised
from the fact that there are in the United States
waters 1,500 species of fishes, though of these not more
than 150 are commonly found in the markets. . . . .