The Express.
London, England, 1859-11-14 00:00:00

JUISPITE OF THE CONDEMNED PORTI7OOIBI.

A respite was received by the sheriff. on Saturday
evening for the prisoner Charles Annois, a Portuguese lea-
man, who was convicted of murder at the last emotion of the
Central Criminal Court, and left for execution, the day ap-
pointed for oarrying out the sentence being this (Monday)
morning. It will be recollected that the priaoner was shipped
se cook on board a Hstialt easel milled the Margaret, at Lat-
han, sad that when she had been a few days at sea the pri-
! farm out tits throat of *ha c.ptun as he lay asleep la his
berth with • carving knife, and af, @mania made a desperate
attack upon others of the crew with the name weapon, his
proceeding being apparently without any object or motive,
the unfortunate decimal particularly having treated him
with great kindness. The prisoner would have been alto-
gether without legal assistance at his trial if the metier bad
not been taken up by the representatives of the Portuguese
government, who retained counsel oa his behalf. The
defence set up was that the prisoner committed the act while
labouring seder ,temporary insanity, and it wee urged that
he ought to be acquitted upon that ground. The jury,
however, found the prisoner guilty of the crime ul
willed murder, and the 14th of November was
tittetty flied for his execution. A very general feeling apt
to prevail among all the puttee connected with the
one, that the prisoner ought not to have bean convict.< d of
rasidoer,particahirly as; Wart from the peculiar Cifetill1111•11001
tinder which the crime appeared to have been committed,
there wee ream to believe that the primmer had been ma-
llard es a Instate in Lisbon shortly before he joined the Mar-
gad, sad that if more time had been allowed evidence could
have been brought forward to establish this fact. Mr.
Meth, thesauri...l who conducted the prommiten, it appears,
had a very strong feeling that upon the evidence the life of
the primmer ought not to be taken, and he waited upon Mr.
Justice Williams, wto tried the case, and intimated to that
leaned jades the Mews he entertained upon the subject,
and at the mime time oohed him whether he considered it
woad he acting in any way unbecoming hie position, if be
ware to wait own the Home Secretary and have acme am-
e anicatiou with him in reference to the fate of the
prieoner. Mr. Julio. Williams Mated that it appeared ME
that so far from the interference of the learned commal
being in any way unbecoming or improper he considered that
the interest he took in the fate of the unfortunate prisoner
was highly creditable to his humanity and honourable to
biro is hia position as ea advocate, and that if he felt that
the priemsee Ills ehould be spared, it was hie duty to put

the Secretary of State ii 01 every information that
would justify biotin cum gto that conclusion. lir. Sleigh
accordingly, it appears, waited upon the Home Secretary on
Saturday afternoon, and had a conversation of some duration
with him in reference to the case of the prisoner. The par-
ticulars, of °ours', cannot be made public, but the result was
that Sir GI. Lewis consented to respite the execution for
fourteen days, namely, to the 28th of November, and a
communication was made to the sheriffs to that effect; but
they were at the same time requested to impress distinctly
upon the prisoner that his life was not positively spared, but
that it would depend entirely upon the further inquiries that
would be instituted relating to the state of hie mind whether
the capital sentence would be carried out or not. The com-
munication of the Secretary of State wan received at the gaol
of Newgate about half-past fire o'clock in the afternoon,
at which time barriers had been erected in the Old Bailey,
and all the necessary preliminaries for the dreadful orremony
bad been prepared, and all expectation that the life of the
unhappy roan would be spared had left the minds et the offi-
cials of the prison. The sheriffs at once proceeded to the
call where the prisoner wee confined, and communicated to
him the intelligence they had just received, taking especial
MIN to explain to him that the reprieve was only for a certain
period, and he appeared deeply thankful for the repite, se
nay be imatined. It is understood that further inquiries
relating to the prisoner will be made immediately at Lisboa,
and if they should torn out ea isaatioipaled, the prisoeer'eseat-
imam will, In all probability, be commuted to one of penal
servitude.