The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-15 00:00:00

THE CONDEMNED PIRATES.

A communication was received on Saturday by
,he Sheriffs from Sir G. Grey, in answer to the ap-
__

plication that was made to the Home Secretary by
those gentlemen, asking him to take steps to have
the execution of the seven pirates c Arried out at one

of the seaport towns instead of in the city of Lon-
dod. The reply was to the effect that Sir G. Grey
did not deem it advisable to have the prisoners re-
moved from Newgate, and consequently the execu-
tion must take place in the usual course.
It appears that some exertions are being made by
Mr. Beard, the solicitor who defended the prisoners,
upon the instructions of the consuls of the nations
to which they respectively belong to endeavour to
save the lives of Marchelino and Los Santos, on the
ground that there is no evidence to show that they
were concerned in the murder of either the captain
or any of the ether persons who lost their lives,
and that all that was proved against them was that
they appeared to have concurred with what after-
wards took place. These two culprits put their
names to the memorial, and an endeavour was made
to induce the gentlemen who constituted the jury
by which they were tried to sign it also. Tbis,
however, was found to be a difficult task, as nearly
the whole of them expressed their opinion that it

was clear from the evidence that although the two
prisoners Marchelino and Los Santos, might not
have been actually present when the murders were
committed, there was no doubt they took an active
part in the mutiny, and that consequently they
were as guilty as any of the others, and only one of
the jury would sign the memorial. The general
opinion among the authorities is that this memorial
is not likely to be attended with any effect, and that
the sentence will be carried out upon the whole of
the culprits. Since the establishment of the Central
Criminal Court not a single case has occurred of a
capital conviction under the Admiralty jurisdiction
of the court, and indeed most of the cases are tried
at Liverpool. Before the Cantral Criminal Court was
created, the culprits who were convicted of capital
offences upon the high seas, wore taken in a cart
from Newgate to the Execution Dock, not far from
the site of the old Thames Police• office, where they
were hanged on the river shore, and at the com-
mencement of the present century the bodies of
several pirate murderers might be seen hanging in
chains at that spot.
The culprits during the past week seem to have
been awakened to a slight extent to their awful
position. They have most of them relations in some
or other of the Spanish islands, who are of course
entirely ignorant of their fate; but upon their ex-
pressing a wish that they should be communicated
with and informed of their position, the Sheriffs
afforded them every facility for doing so, and letters
have been written to the fathers, mothers, and other
relatives of the culprits, to whom they wished them
to be addressed, informing them of the position in
which they are placed. The culprits have been con-
tinually visited during the week by two Roman
Catholic priests, the Rev. Mr. Hussey, from Moor-
fields Chapel, and Father Louis, a Spanish priest,
who converses with the prisoners in their own

language.
The Rev. Mr. Davis, the ordinary of the gaol of
Newgate, has been spared the pain of interfering on
the present occasion, as, independently of the pri-
soners being Roman Catholics, the whole of them,
except Lyons and Vartas (or Watter) as he was
called at the trial, are
quite ignorant of the English
language, and these two spoke very little English.
The culprits seem to have conducted themselves
tolerably well since their conviction, bat they are evi-
dently hardened, desnerate ruffians ; and Lopez, or
the " Cablan," as he was termed, only seems to be an -
noyed at not being allowed to smoke, and repeatedly
asks, " Why they keep him so long?" and why the
sentence is not carried out more quickly. They are
all in separate cells, and are never left alone, so that
they have not had the least opportunity of com-
with each other since their conviction,
municating
as it is not all improbable, if they had an opportu-
nity might have concocted some scheme of
t
violence,h ey
to be carried out when the time for their
execution arrived. It is expected that the scaffold
will be altered so as to admit of there being two
cross beams instead of one, and four of the culprits
will be executed upon one of these beams and three
upon the other. The precaution will also be taken
of bringing every one of the prisoners separately to
the press-room, as it is termed, to be pinioned, and
the whole seven will not be together until they are
so secured as to render any attempt at violence alto-
gether impossible. The sheriffs have also given
directions for other proceedings to be taken with a
like object. As regards the prisoner Lyons, it
appears that he is suffering so severely from rheu-
matism that he is not able to stand, and it is ex-
pected that it will be necessary to carry him to the
place of execution.

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