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

:MBER.

lIIER.

EXECUTION OF CAP7'AnT GORDON.

Our American telegram yesterday contained the
short and simple statement that " Captain Gordon
has been hanged." It would not be strange if, int
the absence of all explanation, some who read this
said to themselves that that was the captain's
affair, and passed on. Yet Captain Gordon's exe-
cution was by no means an event of personal inte-
rest. On the contrary, throughout America it is
understood to be full of significance. It is an in des
of the quality of Mr. Lincoln's Government, of its
strength of principle, and the consistency of it%
policy, and it marks the end of a system. Gordon
was tried and convicted as the captain of a slaver,
and was sentenced to death. Under Pierce,
Buchanan, and Presidents of their stamp, his con-
demnation would not have caused his friends any
serious alarm. It was well understood on all sides
that there were legal forms, decent, proper in a
Christian and civilised nation; and solemn sen-
tences passed on persons proved to have partici-
pated in the African slave trade were not at all
objected to as long as they were not carried out.
The prospect changed, however, when Mr. Lincoln
was made President. People felt that it would be
thenceforth more dangerous to dabble in this
traffic. Still, when a slave captain was actually-
convicted and sentenced to death, it was very ge-
nerally =doubted whether the Government would
hold firm. Practical men, quite prepared to con-
demn the African slave trade in the abstract, re-
coiled from the thought of strangling a white man
because he had removed some black men from a
to a Christian country. Mr.
although a free-soiler, was not
a fanatical abolitionist, and would think twice be-
fore he sacrifices the life of a man of Anglo-Saxon
blood to a sentiment in favour of the negro. These
people, however, forgot the difference between
principle and sentiment. Mr. Lincoln and his
party have no particular affection for the negro
race, but they know that the best interests of the
white community require that injustice should
not be perpetrated upon the blacks. In this re-
pect their positionis very much like that of the
Protestant liberals here who were demanding
Catholic emancipation forty years ago; they care
more for the cause than for the parties most obvi-
ously affected by it. As time wore on the friends
of Gordon became anxious, and they took -measures
to move public opinion on his behalf. A petition
was drawn up, which in a few days was signed by
several thousand merchants of New York, and pre-
sented to the Government. There is not a kinder
man in the- world than President Lincoln ; but
neither is there a man who better understands how
cruel may be the indulgence of fond sentiment at
the ex/30.5D taf duty. Captain Gordon would have
had a bet t- chance had his life depended on the
decision of-some impulsive negro-phile, instead of
being at the. disposal of the severe, deliberative,
bat inflexible tenant of the White House, a man
ho,
amidst the severest trials, has never swerved
'a hair's breadth from the policy which he professed
when he was a candidate for office. Those who
knew President Lincoln well said that he would not
lose the precious opportunity to strike a blow at a
system which costs hundreds of lives yearly, and
dooms the brave men of the two African squadrons
to ruin their health on a pestilential coast, They
said Gordon would certainly be hanged. They were
right, and from the Bight of Benin to the coast o
Cuba the man-stealer will tremble.

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 th e
sentence of the law. His last moments are described
by the .New 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
smoking and writing till near midnight. He
wrote 13 letters, several of which were very-bitter
upon I)elafield Smith, and one to his little boy,
which is to be kept sealed until be 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 morniug, 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 dissolution 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 eiforts, and in haste they sent
for Dr. Simmons,who in turiz 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-pump,
and gave him stimulants. Lockjaw set in, need 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 Wou7sl bo
firmly closed, and he could neither talk nor gromi.
Ant suchthis
condition—half times h e would
write ri t
alive,his dheaslifr eds
dead, nearly
pa per.
I
under the absolute influence ofliquor, 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,
dasnadt h t. h act rho
we
dhs a dg
setshcearpeedd
abbyo
utth at,
the
andAt hte
Ig2r eo
otleosetke xmc iatresmh
ee
ln tmpurrervaayilhe emTeaonmsbsa,.
through Mr. Draper, that the hour had
od t **i fiserdr Gv
eodr.d oAn
t,
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
of clear whisky, when his arms were tied, the
black cap was put carelessly on one side of his
head, and he was carried on the Deputy's shoulder
to a chair in the corridor. The sight was simply
shocking.
He sat had been the effect of the poison that, in order to
The man was not sober ; that is, so
,opthmoewaykerefaunl
tokhhreedese
on
rdinary
Marshal,rhi
yr gmai
man drunk
rttgiuhli lnvuket
nhhtaeihffmnr
eeecwect eethsidismsatkeri
nysyihaoeeomrtnsviwooohe munara e
enough
read
al a
e chair, gazing listlessly around, while
hfoilre_
l
had
while That
,tdhwoeni
tleh helped to his
upturned head and
lol-
lingly in th
to
the death warrant. Then
an indescribably offensive manner,
Gordon said, I
have a word to say. I die with the feet,m s r reprieve
held t othheirme.
clear conscience
of a man who has done, intentionally,
no wrong.
When a man gets up in court and says to the
jury that if they will only
him he will do everything convict a man for
to get that man par-
doned, and then goes to the President and begs him
to hang the than, it's very mean and contemptible.
Such a man would d
oeallnoyth, in gftto promoteh.hb hisl ownk
ends. He is a mean f
d
around with senseless wsm.
ilAe
aenrdwastkced
feorosoomee
more Whisky, which was kindly given him. The
procession was then formed, Gordonstalking;
on with
a bravadoish 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 had just sense
enough left to endeavour to follow out the sufogdefi'e
Lion of the well•meaning Deputy, who told
like a man, and to walk to the rope so thatnone
accuse of him of fear. When he reached the
'm not
he said, ' Well, a man can't die but
the once :
I whitened,
afraid.' The cap was drawn over
meaningless features, the noose-knot was carefully
adjusted under his ear, and he
an unthinking,
ll"l
caffold,
coula
..atingdfor
careless, besotted wretch, 1 he knew not
what, when with a jerk
11-sbeweat high in the air,
_ the rope, still senseless,
re sardless of pain or pleasure.
" The body swayedhither and thither for a few
stilland fellto
unfeeling, the letinllgth
s or
moments, and all was quiet. No twitchings, no
convulsions, no agonies. His legs opened
once, but closed again, and he hung a lump of dis-
honoured' 0.147.