The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-01-08 00:00:00

SENTENCE OF DEATH.

Mr. KNAPP—John Thurtell and Joseph Hunt, you having been
arraigned for the murder of 'William Wcare, on an indictment, and
then uo a Coroner's Inquisition, to both of which you have pleaded
" Not Guilty;" you have been tried before God and your Country,
which Country has found you Guilty of the said murder: What
have you to say why sentence of death should not be pronounced
against yoo according to law ?
Thunell, in a less firm and collected manner than in his first ad-
dress—" I hope, tn". Lord, you will consider my situation. As I as-
serted
at tint, I now. for the last time, assert my innocence.
Foe myself, I have no request to make; I am at a moment ready :
but I have friends who are fax from me and dear to me--those I
wish to sea.--11'he prisoner here became so overpowered sa to shed
tears.l-4therefore pray that you will grant we a respite until
Monday, that I may be afforded an opportunity of seeing them."
The Oilr then made the usual proclamation.
Mn Justice PARK (having put on the black cap)—John Thur.,
tell, and Joseph Hunt, after a full, fair, and impartial trial, and
an ample review of the evidence, a Jury of your country has found j
you, and I think with perfect propriety, guilty of the respective'
offences with which you stand char you, John Thurtell, ail
principal in the murder ; and you, Joseph }luny as accessary be-1
fore the fact. With respect to you, John Thurtell, it is impossi-
ble to pass the sentence of the law upon you without feeling much
compunction in doing so, as your conduct this day, and during
the trial, has proved you to have been formed for better
things. In the early part of your life, you have this day stated
that lessons of veligion were early inculcated on your mind by your
mother. It is to be deeply deplored that you should have so for.
gotten these lessons, and so suffered your mind to be depraved, as to
be guilty of so winked and detestable a murder ; fur, notwithstand-
ing your solemn and oft-repeated protestations of innocence, I am
myself as satisfied of your guilt as if I had seen the murder with my
own mortal eyes. Lay not then the flattering unction to your soul'
that you are innocent ; and do not dispose of the time that may be al.
leered you in a perseverance of such protestations, butrather think of
the future state into which you must soon enter; and do not moo
into it with a lie in your mouth and with murder in your right hand.
You have been found guilty of one of the most foul and cruel
murders that man can conceive; and think not that your declarations
of innocence can deceive that All-seeing-Power before whom you
will be shortly summoned. According to the confession which you
have this day made, you have been addicted to gaming and to other
dissolute habits ; it was then that you formed an acquaintance with
the unhappy man, of whom I know nothing, but who I fear was of
no very correct character or moral habits, from what has appeared
on this trial. You selected the moment of darkness to murder him
—your friend—in order to aid the secrecy of the commission of the
crime. These.reflenimul Ido not throw out with a view of making
you more miserable than the unhappy situation in which you
are now placed is calculated to render you. Hut you should con.
eider that however short may be the time now allowed you to live,
it is of twenty times greater length than you allowed your victim.
You accompanied him under the guise of friendship, and only to
betray and murder him. I have only to implore you to devote the
time that shall be allowed to you to contrition for your crimes.
Your associate, Hunt, has been convicted of being accessary tO
the murder with you, before its commission ; and I hope that you
and he may make that reparation to the offended laws of Heaven
Nod your country, so that you may regain that station which year
conduct has forfeited. Appeal with confidence and humble resig.
nation to your God, the gates of whose kingdom are never shut
against a penitent sinner. ]The Learned Judge here became so
overpowered by his feelings as to shed tears.] Ile concluded with
a prayer that God would afford them grace and strength, so as to
render the intermediate time available to their eternal interests, to
which alone they had now to look. The sentence of the law Is,
that you, John Thurtell, be taken from this place to the piece
from whence you came, and from thence to the place of exerat-
tion, and there to be hanged by the neck until you are deed;
your body then to be delivered to the surgeons to be dissected end
anatomized ; and may the lord have mercy on your sinful soul !
Mr. JusticePAae then proceeded to pass sentence on Joseph
Hunt, as an accessary before the fact. The sentence was similar
to the preceding one, with the exception that no day was named for
his execution, nor orders given for his body to be dissected and
anatomized.

In a few minutes after the sentence of the Court was pronounced
thero prisonersj retired from the dock. The address of the Judge
&produced not the slightest alteration in the deportment of Thurtell.
lie same firmness, the twine self-possession, the same indifference
to his fate, alike marked his departure from and entrance into the
Court. . . . . .

Hunt appeared affected at that part of the Learned Judge's
charge where he exhorted the prisoners to contrition. Ile applied
• handkerchief to his eyes, and wept bitterly. The prisoners were
both bound on their retirement um their entrance. Their deport-
ment throughout the whole trial wax indeed extremely correct, and
marked with great propriety.