The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-08-27 00:00:00

THE EXECUTION.

Israel Lipski was duly executed on Monday morn-
ing within the walls of Newgate with all the dread
ceremonial prescribed by law and custom. The pre-
cedent and antecedent circumstances connected with
the crime have been so exhaustively discussed in the •
press, in Parliament, and by the public, even up to
the moment of the Home Secretary's ultimatum of
Saturday night, that there is no need, in describing
the last sad scene of all, to recapitulate them.
On evidence which left no doubt in the minds of
judge and !jury, and which has commended itself as
sufficient to the mind of Mr. Matthews, Lipski was
convicted of a barbarous and wanton murder—the
murder of a woman lying defenceless in sleep on the
bed which her husband had only a short time quitted.
What was the motive for this deed of blood?
Counsel for the defence relied upon the utter absence
of motive; but Mr. Justice Stephen, a judge of
strong discernment, and by long experience well able
to detect things in the dark side of human nature,
espied two motives in the case—robbery, or passion.
The first he suggested to the jury, was to be
discarded for the reason that the victim belonged
to the needy class of Jews who form a consider-
able portion of the population of the East-end.
This, as it turns out, was the motive, and not
passion, sudden but wicked.
LIPSRPS DEMEANOUR.
Mr. Justice Stephen was considerately short in sen-
tencing Lipski, seeing that his words had to be inter-
preted to the prisoner in the jargon known as
" Yeudisch," or Hebrew-German. On one sentence,
however, he laid very solemn emphasis "All I say
to you, Israel Lipski, is, prepare to die I" The culprit
seemed to have laid the judiohil admonition seriously
to heart, for during the period which, according to
law, is required to elapse between conviction and exe-
cution, and also during the eight days of grace which
the Home Secretary subsequently extended to him,
Lipski, according to all accounts, has paid
fervent and earnest attention to the constant
and devoted ministrations of the Rev. S. Singer,
of the Synagogue at Bayswater, always, how-
ever, protesting his innocence of the offence of
which he was found guilty, and always insisting that
he was co-victim with the murdered woman. This
now, according to his own confession, was sheer
hypocrisy. Whilst naturally buoyed up by the
knowledge that strenuous efforts, instigated by a
London evening paper, and supported by influential
Jews, were being made to rescue him from the
gallows, Lipski does not seem to have unduly nursed
the hope of escaping the death penalty, and it is only
fair to say that so far as outward and visible signs
went he demeaned himself as a man possessing the
courage of innocence. In this again he was only
acting a part. Those whose melancholy duty it has
been to keep watch and ward over the prisoner by
day and night agree that he showed little fear of the
approach of his appointed doom. His solace
seemed to have been in his Bible, which
under the guidance of his spiritual adviser he bee
assiduously read and studied, with the apparent
result of strengthening his fortitude and sustaining
his physical condition. Supplied with kosher fonci,
i.e., food prepared according to the Jewish ordinance,
he has eaten fairly well during his occupancy of the
condemned cell; whilst his sleep has been tolerably
regular and not seriously disturbed. Lipski, in short,
appeared to have shown a bold yet calm front to
death; and to have preserved the coolness he die
played in the dock, when listening to the compro-
mising story which the prosecution had to tell about
him. This coolness in meeting the inevitable re-
mained with him till the end of his respite. He
heard Mr. Matthews's final decree as it was announced
to him in the cell by the Governor of the gaol with-
out exhibiting any strong emotion. He received the
intelligence that his death-warrant had been confiemed
with the air of a man who was disappointed—nothing
more.

THE SCENE OUTSIDE NENVGA.TE.
A large crowd had assembled outside the Old
Bailey by seven o'clock on Monday morning, As the
hour of execution drew nigh it numbered quite, if
not more, than 5000 people—the largest gathering
ever known since capital punishment has been per-
formed in private at Newgate. The gathering in-
cluded a large number of East-end Jews, and a good
sprinkling of women, all animated, it seemed, with the
morbid desire of witnessing the hoisting of that
dismal emblem of a a satisfied justice—the black
flag.

IN THE PRISON.
Lipski rose at five o'clock in the morning, and
in due time a breakfast, consisting of coffee,
eggs, and toast was sent into him, Of this re-
freshment he availed himself sparingly. Shortly
after six, the Rev. S. Singer arrived, and
engaged the culprit in devotion until the arrival of
Sheriffs Sir H. A. Isaacs and Sir A. Kirby and Under.
Sheriff Rose Innes. At a quarter to eight the passing
bell of St. Sepulchre's began to toll its mournful mono-
tone—the only music which condemned persons at
Newgate hear in walking to their unhallowed graves.
A few minutes before eight the sheriffs and other
officials entered the condemned cell, and informed the
poor wretch there interned that the hour of his death
had arrived. He was formally handed over to the
hangman, Berry, who had been in quarters at the gaol
since Saturday, and to him he submitted himself in
calm resignation.
AT THE SCAFFOLD.
The work of pinioning was got through with com-
mendable dexterity and expedition; and just on the
stroke of the hour, the procession, headed by the
Sheriffs and the Governor of the gaol, Colonel Mil-
man, emerged from the door which abuts on to the
place of execution, which, at first sight, might well be
mistaken for a coach-house. Lipski, who looked
terribly pale, was supported by a warder on either
side; but apparently needed not their assistance so far
as his ability to walk was concerned. Berry followed
immediately behind. Without the loss of a second
Lipski was placed under the noose, the hangman
took a white cap from his pocket, placed it over ti o
head of the culprit, and adjusted the noose. Lipski,
who was wearing a convict's cap, but was otherwise
dressed as be appeared in the Central Criminal Court,
responded to the handling of Berry in getting him
into position. The warders stood clear. Before the
spectators—who consisted almost entirely of re-
porters—could follow the proceedings, there was a
slight crashing sound, and the 'unhappy cnlprit
disappeared out of sight into the pit below.
Death must have been instantaneous, for
there was not, as is often seen, any vibra*ion
of the rope or any of that pendulum movement
which yenerally succeeds the fall. Berry had evi-
dently gauged his " subject " with mathematical
nicety. A man of sft. 9in., Lipski scaled only 9st.,
and giving him a drop of 6ft., the culprit was put out
' of his misery without a pang. There did not, indeed,
seem to be any of that muscular convulsion which
usually takes place. Lipski dropped straight down
like a heavy stone into the water; and a more pain-
less death no one could wish to die.
During the whole of the ghastly proceedings—which
lasted from beginning to end not more than 10 seconds
—the Rev. Mr. Singer was reading the prayers of his
Church for the dying, in which Lipski joined in an
undertone. After the executioner had done his work,
the burial service, in which God's righteous judgment
was acknowledged, was read as the body hung in the
pit. Then the medical officer of the prison, as is the
custorr, took notes of the temperature and other
featuresshown by the corpse, which was cut down at nine
o'clock. Just before the hour of execution, M. Albert
was called into the condemned cell, in order that if
the prisoner wished to make any further statement it
might be recorded. Lipski replied, "I have nothing
more to say; I am guilty."
A formal inquest was held in the course of the day,
and then the body was buried in the company of the
many malefactors who have preceded Lipski on the
allows at Newgate.