The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-08 00:00:00

FURTHER PARTICULARS.

Captain Gordon, convicted of slavery piracy, in
spite of all the efforts made to avert his fate, has
been executed. He had attempted to poison him-
self, but was sufficiently restored to undergo the
sentence of the law. His last moments are described
by the .lVew York Times :
" As had been the practice heretofore, Mr. Sut-
ton, the Warden, allowed Gordon the privilege of
walking up and down the corridor. This he availed
himself of on Thursday night, and amused (shocked)
his keepers by singing to them Portuguese songs,
and talking of everything under the sun other than
that which one would suppose should occupy the
thoughts of a sane man the night before his execu-
tion. He then called for writing materials, and sat
severalwritingo toirl lw
which
hr
were
v
midnight.erybitliteie.
swmr tkei nlg3 laent tde rs,
upon Delafield Smith, and one to his little boy,
which is to be kept sealed until he shall have
attained maturer age. No evidence of insanity, of
fear, of a just conception of his situation—in fact,
of anything except a great fondness for smoking,
was given by him during those long hours.
"At length, about midnight, he lay down upon
the bed. His keepers—Finley, Borst, Peale, and
Buckley—took turns in guarding him, one being
in the cell all the time, while the other walked the
corridor. In addition to this, a detachment of
marines guarded the entrances to the prison, and
paced the stone-paved yard.
" At last he slept, and so continued until about
three o'clock in the naornieg, when he started sud-
denly from his bed, looked at his watch, muttered
something, and again lay down with his face to
the wail. No suspicion of poison entered the minds
of the watchful keepers until 4 a.m., when Gordon
was discovered writhing in convulsions, and with
every indication of dis,,olution marked on his coun-
tenance. Alarmed, they knew not what to do.
They shook him, endeavouring to wake him from
what might be simply a disturbed sleep, but no
waking followed their efforts, and in haste they sent.
for Dr. Simm on s,who in turn despatched a messenger
for the City Prison physician, Dr. A. Hodgman, and
then hastened to the cell. He found Gordon in
convulsions, which seemed to increase in violence
at each repetition. He applied the stomach-pnrop,
and gave him stimulants. Lockjaw set in, and the
wretched man, from that moment till 10 a.m. suf-
fered torments to which the momentary agony of a
scaffold death can bear no possible comparison.
"We have no room for an extended account of
the subsequent scenes of torture through which the
poor fellow passed. Suffice it to say, that while the
fatal effect of the poison was removed by the mea-
sures of Dr. Hodgman and assistants, the painful
effects remained, and from half-past 4 o'clock to 11
o'clock, but with momentary cessation, Gordon suf-
fered torments for the double purpose of restoring
vitality and neutralising the pain, and, had this
not been the case, long before the appointed hour
Gordon would have passed from time to eternity.
He said that he had suffered a dozen deaths since
he took the poison, and begged that he might be
allowed to die, and end his misery.
" At times, for half an hour, his jaws would bo
firmly closed, and he could neither talk nor groan.
At such times he would write his desires upon paper..
In this condition—half alive, half dead, nearly
under the absolute influence of liquor, given for the
purpose of saving him, the poor wretch lingered
until the legal boundary of his life's career. The
feeling in the city was intense. It was rumoured.
that Mrs. Gordon had supplied her husband with
poison, and that he had escaped by that means a
felon's death. Crowds gathered about the Tombs,
and the greatest excitement prevailed.
" At 12 o'clock Marshal Murray notified Gordon,
through Mr. Draper, that the hour had arrived. At
this he expressed great surprise, and said he
thought he had two hours more in which to live.
The clergyman entered the cell and prayed with
him, or rather for him. Deputy-Marshal Borst
aided him in dressing, and gave him a large drink
were tied, the
of clear whisky, when his arms
black cap was put aide of his
carelessly on one _ _
head, and he was carried on the Deputy's shoulder
to a chair in the corridor. The sight was s:mply
shocking.
" The man was not sober; that is, so powerful}
had been the effect of the poison that, in order tcr
keep him alive till the necessary moment, they had
been obliged to give him whisky enough to make au
ordinary man drunk three times over. He sat tel-
lingly in the chair, gazing listlessly around, whip
the Marshal, with unaffected emotion, read the for-
mer reprieve to him. That done he was helped to his
feet, and held there while the Marshal read to him
the death warrant. Then, with
upturned head and
an indescribably offensive manner, Gordon said, I
have a word to say. I die with th
ofman who has done, e clear conscience
intentionally, no wrong.
When a man gets up in c
jury that if they will only
and says to the
him he will do everythingy convict a man for
par-
doned, and then goes to the to get that man
President and begs him
to hang the man, it's very mean and contemptible.
Such a man would do anything to promote his own
ends. He is a mean fellow.' After which he looked
around with a senseless smile, and asked for some
more whisky, which was kindly given him. The
procession was then formed, Gordon stalking with
a b
ravadoish air, upheld by the Marshals, towards
the scaffold.

"To a casual spectator it would appear that,
exhausted by mental and physical suffering, Gor-
don was making a great effort to walk manfully to
his fate. As it was, however, he, hud just sense
enough left to endeavour to follow out the sugoge.!o
tion of the well-meaning Deputy, who told himne
couldtcti
like a man, and to walk to the rope so thatno
accuse of him of fear. When ho reached
I'm not
he said, ' Well, a man can't die but
theo
whitened,
afraid.' The cap was drawn overr
was carefully
meaningless features, the noose-knot
od, an unthinking,
thee : scaffold,
adjusted under his ear, and he stood, for he knew not
rope, still senseless,
careless, besotted wretch
alewent high in the air,
what, when with a jerk wretch,
r oardless of pain or pleasure.
hither and thither for a few
The . No twitehings, no
and fell to the lenwg:sh
still unfeeling,swstaiylled
" The body
athllroes, no agonies. His legs opened
closed again, and he hung a lump of once, but cinorvuellistisOnsa,ll:lllo
dis-
honoured clay.