The Express.
London, England, 1862-08-26 00:00:00

ZXECUTION 01P THE WARWreKsfinur
MURDERER.

The condemned criminal, Geor3e Gardner, a
ploughmau, suffered the last penaltj of the law, at 10
o'clock vestenlay morning, before the county gaol at
Warwick. The execution was performed by Smith, of
Dudley. The murder was a meet unprovoked and cold-
blooded one. Sarah Kirby, his fellow servant, was shot dead
whilst she was standing at her washing tub, on the gird of
April last. Both she and the into Gardner were employed
at a roadside farm, on the confines of the county, cad she
was a very good-looking, well-conducted girl. He was a
disreputable character. Soon after he went to the farm
where the murder took place she complained to Mies Edge,
the housekeeper, that be annoyed her very much by his
attentions and his attempts to kiss her. Mr. Edge, her
master, hearing of this, called them both into the par-
lour, and told him he must not repeat his conduct to her,
whereupon Gardner said, "Well, if I can't have her, no
one else shall." No farther complaints were made after
this, though there is reason to believe he continued Weed.
The only complaint he bad against her was that she would
not draw him the proper quantity of beer ; but the truth
was that he wanted more than his fair share. On the morn-
ing of the murder he was at work in the plough-field, his
mister being absent at a cattle fair, and he made remarks
to the other labourers which showed him to be 000tetopla-
nag some act of violater*, saying he wished he bad " some
one before him—he would kill them, and so on ; but he
appears to have left his work and returned to the house
without causing any suspicion in their minds that he was
about to commit the crime of murder. Having reached
the beim, he asked the girl to fetch him his master'adouble-
banelled gun for shooting rooks. He had been in the habit of
usingit for this purpose before, and no surprise wasfelteither
by the girl or by Miss Edge, the housekeeper, who saw her
hand the loaded gun to him, Miss Edge remarking, " Mind,
it's loaded, George." He raid, " Yee, ma'am, I know it is,"
sod tried it by taking off the cap and letting the hammer down.
Finding it all right, he followed Kirby to the washbowls,
and shot her in the 'cock of the neck. He afterwards
threatened Mies Edge, and there is no doubt that if she had
not concealed herself he would have shot her. He then
escaped with the gun, and was taken by the police on his
way to Oxford. Some delay took place in the execution ;
and from the bad adjustment of the rope or some other
cause, the criminal died reniarkably hard, struggling much,
until at last the body hung monocle's in the air. The
crowd contained a large proportion of women, but was
orderly in the extreme, and began to disperse as soon am the
drop fell. Before his execution Gardner made the following
confession :—" I did not want to pay my addresses to Sarah
Kirby, but she would sever draw me the proper quantity
of beer, and that vexed me. I did not know the master was
away on the 23rd of April, and the witness who said I
asked him where he was will have to suffer for his perjury.
I tried my luck in the field by throwing the 'spud of
the plough, which came down with the point in the earth.
If it had fallen fiat I should not have killed her ; but as it
came down point foremost, I left the field with the deter-
mination to do it. I should have killed Miss Davis if I had
got near enough to her, ad it's a good job no one stopped
me before I sold the goa."