The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-06-02 00:00:00

EXECUTION.

At an early hour yesterday morning. persons were seen crowd.
lag toil+, Old Bailey, to witnea the execution of Joint Rarlerby.
Med in, Wm. lu 111, aged 37. and Joh* 11W Megal. aged 91.
The list two of these men were convicted at the Ohl Bailey Sea.
aims three months since, and the last at the Session of flyer and
Terminer in May.
Easterbv was tried on several indictments, with three other per-
sons, on charges of burglary. at the art end of the town, and was
convicted on two of them. Some efforts were made to save him, as
he seas a member of the family of a very opulent tradesman, resid-
ing at Shadwell, but unsuccessfully. as it was ascertained that he
had traversed through every grade of vice, and had bccotne an as-
pert and daring robber. some of his acts having been tinc-
tured with great catchy. He had no wife, but he has left an
infant child. _ _ _

---
The wretched man, Hill, displayed a melancholy instance of
the result of intemperate pursuits ; be was the son of • respectable
publican. and lied some 'imperil a few years since, which he died.
:sated t he then become as officer of the Shade it in Worship_
street police, but was discharged, and passed through a variety of
scenes. very often approving as • witoeum at the Old Balky, until at
length he engaged in the traffic of uttering forged notes, and was
prosecuted on live distinct charges Sy the Rank of England.
♦yagstaB; it will be remembered by oar readers, was convicted of
forging as acceptance to a bill of exchange for 28K, but the fraud
being detected on the bill being presented by a porter to whoa:
the prisoner had given It, a plan was laid, and he was taken
into custody.
This unfortunate man had moved in a highly respectable sphere,
and had carried on in the country a very extensive businesses a
Ilnur-factor, and aftermath* Lesion as a carpet-manufacture,
when his prospects beam:ft clouded, he unfortunately, in con-
junction with others, le salmon his credit, issued fictitious bills,
and which, it is thought, led him to the commission of the crime
for which he suffered. ft was slid he was well practised in the
ounsdasion of such offences ; and from his knowledge oldie signs
manual and signatuses of some very eminent commercial houses,
very e..al y imitated the band-writing.
Since his conviction every effort has been made for him, and in-
deed his friends persevered until Monday, in the hope that the
Royal c►emency would be extended to him, but such an act was con-
'Wired incompatible with justice. Ike the arrival of the warrant
for execution, be received the intelligence calmly, and prepared
•ery willingly for the awful transition he was doomed to make. His
wife, with whom he had had a large fortune, did not forsake him in
this trying moment, and, with his sister, remained with him, en-
deavouring to give religious consolation ; but, from the poignancy
of their grief, they nearly marred the pious task, by distracting
his attention, and reminding him of happy acmes never to
return. . _

-i:Xsteir by was visited by his family : this wretched man most
unceasingly, and with (neat earnestness, evinced his peniteuce and
contrition, and from his demeanour, the world, to his mind, ap-
peared " one blank void :" be seemed to look forward to death as
a happy release, and expressed no wish again to enter the busy
scenes of life. He took a final farewell, on Monday forenoon, of
some of his family, his Last request being that he might be interred
with his mother in the family ;rave.
Wagstaff's farewell with his wife and sister on Monday, was
affecting in the extreme ; the poor females were torn from him in
an inikeicribitWe Agony of grief ; he never bald up his heal after
the parting. and seethed 'trooping fast from the acuteness of his
feelings.
The whole of lust night was occupied in prayer ; the wretched
men slept a few hours, and on being visited by the Hee. llfr. Cut-
ton and Mr. Baker in the morning, at five o'clock, were perfectly
composed. At a quarter in eight o'clock, blesses. Laurie and
Whittaker tthe Sheriffs), the Utider Sheriff, and attendants, ar-
rived at the prison, and proceeded to the press-room. Easterby
was first introduced, and pinioned ; he appeared calm and com-
prised, but made only one observation, that he was happy. Hill
then walked in, with a liminess of nerve that asioni.lied every
person ; lie shook hands with sane persons whom he Frog:Used,
and then submitted himself to he bound, taking a seat on that
oetumany being concluded. Wagstaff then walked in ; he appeared
very weak, and was so completely la.: in thought as not tO observe
any thing. At eight o'clock Hill rose, and bowing led the melan-
choly funeral procession, with a demeanour as collected, and a step
as firm as if he Wee • casual spectator, no: a wretched principal
this fortitude never forsook him, and he gave the executioner di-
rections on the scaffold, which was first ascended by Easterby,
W•getati' being impported up last. Alter a few minutes spent in
prayer the signal was given, the deep fell, and after a few annul.
sive struggles they mood to exist.

On Satunlay, a dispute took place near Ross, County
Cork, in „hick a man named Hrgarty was killed, and his
two brother,. beaten.—lr ish Wars rrr.

nays.— Yesterday moaning, between two and three
o'clock, an alarming tire conitinewl in the warehouse of Messrs. !
King and lireirion, Manchester war housemen, Friday street.
Chespaide, which destroyed then premises and nearly the whole of
the stock. And about seven o'clnek another lire took place, at Mr.
Lane's, East India Chop-house, Leadenhall-street, the greater part
of which was destroyed.
' LAIII&NT AMA ACCIDKNIT.--4)ii the afternoon of Thurs.
day last, a truly melancholJohn flue occurrence took place in the neigh-
Iboirhood of this city. Mr. Cottle, a youth, seventeen
year of age, son of a gentleman who resides at tharlton-Kings,
near Cheltenham, went to bathe in the River Severn, accompanied
by a voung trend about the mine uric. They got into the water
together ; het the latter, being unable to swim, did not venture
beyond his depth ; whilst the former strain a little about, though
not expert at the exercise, and then returned to the shore, when he
intimated to his companion his intention to diva He did so. and.
apse ?rosining the sursiter, appeared as net play, front the irre-
gularity of his motions : but, alter faintly pronouncing the name
of his friend twice, he sunk to rise no mute ! The mended witness
! °frills sad eat:atropin instantly ran cif, to implore the feeble &s-
-untan= of an old man who was &dung near the spot : but they
were both incapable of rendering any effectual aid ; and a further
alarm was given. as won as the distance of half a mile would per_
wit. Men were forthwith eniployed with drags, and in about two
hours the body of the Implant youth was found, very near the
place where he went down. This nixie. so if:judiciously chosen,
was perhaps less calculated fur bathing than any other on the banks
of a ricer, which, in its whole course, tin this vicinity at least,,
is hut ill adapted the rags a purpose : it was at a point formed by
a sudden turn, opposite to a place called the l'aittug, where the
I water is deep, the eddy strong, and the ground censequetaly very
uneven. Mr. Cottle. who was pupil to an eminent surgeon, wits
a young man of amiable disponi= and promising talents ; and
his premature fate is the sourer of unfeigned regret to all who
knew him. The affliction in whibh it has involved his fond event
may be conceived, but cannot be demo and ! On Friday, an Inquest
was taken on view of the body, at the Nelson, in the Nouth !linnet,
before .l. Cooke, Esq. Corona • when the inference drawn front the
evidence adduced was, that dui unfortunate youth must have been
seized with cramp, and the Jury returned a verdict of .Itridesrof
Deofh.—Gieseester Jour/sof.