The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-07-20 00:00:00

EXECUTION OF LEONARD WILKINSON.

On Monday forenoon, at York, this wretched culprit paid the
forfeit of his life for the atrocious murder of Mr. Carter.
Since his conviction (and indeed from the moment of his arrival
in the Castle) he had devoted himself to'religious exercise, and
was much assisted by Mr. Carlisle, who wan last Thursday ac-
quitted of the inanslauglyer of 111 r. Blackburne, that gentleman
having humanely given him every instruction as to the nature
of penitential prayer and its effect hereafter. He expressed his
belief that Iris hopes in this world were but trifling, and that the
certainty of his being hanged during the Assizes was more than
probable. Some religious ladies supplied him with Bibles, Prayer
Rooks, and other holy works, and the Rev. William Flower, the
Chaplain of the Castle, most unceasingly exercised every effort to
bring the man's mind to a state of contrition for his great crime,
and happily with good effect. Upon the night of Friday last he
was visited by the Chaplain, who exhorted him, as a duty (and the
only one he could then perform to mankind) lie owed the public, to
make a confession of his guilt, and the motive he had for commit-
ting so atrocious a crime. He was unwilling, possibly owing to his
extreme ignoiance and anguish of mind, to give any explanation
then ; but on Saturday he made the confession which closes this
account. During the brief interval of time, from Friday to this
morning, he seemed anxious to hear prayers read, and joined, with
apparent fervour, in the penitential Psalms arranged for persons in
his awful predicament. Ile parted with his parents, and a girl to
whom he was to have been married, in the course of Sunday, and
that parting was marked with that description of thrilling and
agonizing grief which too 'sorrowfully mark those most affecting in-
terviews. The cell in which he was confided was, in point of spice,
much limited, and its gloomy appearance was well calculated to
bring the unhappy wretch back to the dark recollections of his
guilty career. However, it is rather singular that, amid the horrors
of his iimation, he never lest his appetite, but devoured every thing
eatable in a most ferocious manner.
On Monday, at ten o'clock, he was attended by the Chaplain ;
' he appeared collected and firm, and joined in some Psalms
with much I. meter, singing the responses with great firmness. At
the conclusion, Mr. Shepherd, the gaoler, ordered him to be pinion-
ed, and from that moment he lost all his self-possession, and
bursting into tears, cried with the greatest bitterness, without in-
teriftisston, for the remaining two hours of his existence. He
had directed those books of prayer and Scripture which had been
given to him to be divided amongst his family, and ordered a
Itible to be given to the girl whom he styled his sweetheart. Alta
Under-Sheriff Bro 'ices, by the way, gave a most uncourttous
tetaisal to the genilenten connected with the London and provin-
cial press, of permission to enter the interior of the Castle, in
order more faithfully to report the previous ceremony of the cite-
anion. However, through the kindness of Mr. Shepherd, a situa-
tion (from which all that passed could be seen) was procured for
them. The unhappy man bring disencumbered of his chains, was
led front a roost or ward to tire platform. He cried as he walked along
with evident anguish and sorrow, and appeared so extremely weak
as scarcely to be able to proceed; he was, therefore, led by two persons
connected with the awful ceremony. Hisdress was somewhat pecu-
liar, being a red waistcoat with ahelloon sleeves of the same colour,
and patent cord breeches. At a few minutes to twelve he was
placed on the scaffold, and knelt down with Iris face to the Castle
walls. The Rev. Mr. Flower then read the Litany, penitential
prayers, burial service, a portion of the Revelation of St. Paul,
" 1 know that my Redeemer liveth ;" and " I am tire Life and the
Resurrection, saith the Lord," &c. During the reading of this,
the unhappy man displayed the utmost bitterness of sorrow, and
seemed as if seized with a vie heat shivering tit, which so increased
upon him that it was found necessary to support him to prevent
his falling on his face. Towards the conclusion he appeared to
revive, hut again lost his self-posseseion, and appeared almost in a
state of stupor when the Rev. Clergyman repented,—" In a mo-
ment, in the twinkling ()fan eye, we shall be changed."
The burial service being witchlike, he was raised upon his
feet, still having his back to the immense crowd, and his face
to the wall, and a ruffianly-looking old man, dressed in a ragged
white coat, rather hastily ran out and threw a white cloth in-
tended for a cap, but having more the appearance of a pillow-case,
over the wretched men's face and head, and then pieced the noose
of the rope, which- had been already appended to the fatal beam,
round his neck, and tying st cord round his legs, disappeared
almost as suddenly es he came. The bolts were then withdrawn,
the drop fell, and the wretched culprit was left suspended. His
sufferings appeared to be of the most horrible description. The
knot of the rope, which is usually placed under the left ear, by the
force of the fall, and before the rope attained its full extension slip_
fled tram its positinn, and became fixed °vet the vertebrae, or back
of the neck ; consequently the unhappy being swung to and fro,
for above three minutes, and raised his chest and body in a dread_
fully convulsive manner. Ile struggled for above four militates,
when strangulation put an end to his sufferings. Ile was, after an
hour's eta:pension, cut, down and removed to the dissecting room
of the Castle for dissection. _

The executioner, who performed his business so clumsily, from
his counexinn with the last sentence of the law, is generally shun.
red by the rustic society of this neiglabeurhood, and, consequently,
has become a kind of being who has no friendship for mankind,
and lives in the gaol, and for want of society, gets frequently
drunk. He himself was under sentence of death for sheep-stealing,
but hat that sentence con:111U (1 to fourteeu years' solitary confioe-
ment, and undcrealcil7 the office of executioner, which horrible
situation he has tilled far the last twenty years.
THE CONFESSION or WILKINSON.

FIRES IN ABERDEENSHIRE.
In the zeal of our correspondents to furnish us
particulars of the recent fires in the upland districts, we
fowl they have been led to hazard conjectures as to their
origin, and to state circumstances regarding their progress,
not altogether consistent with the facts. lire now state,
from authority, that the first appearance in Braemar was
on the west side of the water of Clunk, above Achindrine,
on Saturday the 2tth ult., when the adjoining tenantry on
the Invercauld estate, along with those of Lord Fife, in the
neighbourhood, immediately turned out, and kept it from
spreading very far beyond where it had originally com-
menced. This fire was originated by a young man for-.
merly insane, and pronounced " Fatuous" since he has been
lodged in gaol.
About the same time as the above fire commenced, the
heath at the head of Glenge!der was also set fire to ; but
being at such a distance it created little uneasiness, till
Sunday, when the Balmorral tenantry turned out to arrest
its progress. It spread, however, so rapidly towards Loch-
nagarbh and Invercauld forest on the west, and on the east
towards Abergeldie, that the adjoining tenants on both
these estates simultaneously came in the evening to give
their assistance. The wind being favourable for then-
vercauld tenants, they succeeded in preventing the fire
reaching either the forest or Snow of Lochnagarbh ; but
it was not until a considerabLi extent of damage was done
on the Ahergeldie estate that the tenants there succeeded
in stopping it. Neither of those fires had any connexion
with those in Glenmuick, as, previously, they would have
had to cross either the river or the loch before reaching
that quarter.
The primary cause of all these fires was neither lightning
nor the reflection of the sun; but as a precognition is now
going on, relating to them, we forbear saying more at pre-
sent on the subject.
Captain Donald, Inverury, cut some barley, on Thurs-
day last, quite ripe, ands fair crop.--Aberdeen

with the

" I went to the.place to atop Nichol Carter, intending to rob him,
and got a large rail Itoin the hedge, which being too lung, I broke
it in half, keeping the langest piece in my liatal. I saw him coat.
ing slowly along on his galloway, and hid myself till he passed. I
then went behind hint, and knocked him off his horse, and he
cried, . Oh! for God's sake, don't Mame!' I struck him an.
miter blow on the head, which broke'the rail in two. lie was then
senseless, and 1 rubbed hint. I tor up the draft, and, threw the
fragment, away Slow to Fingal) Qum!). I hid the money in the
hollow of the tree; the test is already known, and WO God will
forgive me!"