The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-27 00:00:00

EXECUT [ON OF REBECCA SMITH.
(From the Devizes Gazette.)
The execution of Rebecca Smith, for murdering her
infant child, took place yesterday forenoon, in front of
the new prison, Devizes.
It is impossible to give anything like a correct calcula-
tion of the number of persons present to witness the
awful scene—they were countless. From nine until
eleven o'clock people poured into the town in shoals—
on foot, in waggons, in boats; and by the latter hour,
the prison-yard, the banks of the canal, every tree,
hedge, and field that could command a view of the drop
appeared crammed. Still the roads were lined with per-
eons thronging to the spot. People were there from
every part of the county—old, young, and infants; hut
they were chiefly of the labouring classes, and there
were thousands more of women than of men.
From the period the miserable woman entered the
prison to the moment of her execution her conduct
was most becoming. Mild and contented in her
manner and deportment, it might be thought that she
was totally incapable of the unnatural crime of
which she was convicted. Free from guile or hy-
pocrisy, she at once unhesitatingly confessed her crime,
and acknowledged the justice of the punishment that
awaited her, and frequently expressed a hope that others
would take a warning by her fate. At the same time
she was extremely ignorant, an I betrayed a want of any
deep feeling. She could read but imperfectly, and what
she did read she was scarcely able to understand. The
pious and excellent chaplain had been unceasing in his
endeavours to awaken in her the true spirit of penitence
and prayer; but, as may be supposed, he had a difficult
and a laborious task. Suspended between hope and fear,
she would at times rely on the unbounded mercies of
her Saviour, and at tunes exclaim that her sins were too
great to be forgiven. For several days prior to her exe-
cution her mind appeared to be so entirely occupied
with the thoughts of tier fete in the world to come as to
destroy all feeling regarding the miserable end that at-
tended
her in the present world. The manner in which
she was to quit this life did not appear to trouble her.
It was the dread of the hereafter, and if it be possible
to judge of the human heart from outward observances,
it may be said that she was at length brought to a proper
sense of her awful situation, and was truly penitent.
On Tuesday last her husband and daughter, accom-
panied by her brother and sister, and some other
members of her family, were admitted, for the last
time, to see her. Strange to say, there was such a
total absence of feeling on the part of the husband, as
to induce some remark to bo made on his conduct, but
without any good impresrion. The sister, on the other
hand, was deeply affected, as was her brother—both ol
them wept bitterly. As :the time approached for her
execution she appeared to feel more deeply her dreadful
situation, and she passed rather a restless night ; het
she afterwards recovered her wonted cahnness, and ate
a modeaate bre:direst in the morning.
Shortly before twelve the solemn tolling oF the prises
bell announced that she had but a few minu'es more ts
by the r,
live, and
per th
dewaaus uo'srhi e
ctfes,d from her cell. Accompanied
ehts was at once conducted to
the gallows, the Reverend Chaplain impressive))
reading portions of the burial service as tht
procession proceeded. During this time she did
not utter a word, nor did a sigh cscane
her, but her countenance appeared quite composed and
her step firm. Arrived on the drop, the rope was in
moment round her neck ; sne clasped and raised lit.;
hands together, as if in fervent prayer, and alter a
slight struggle she was launched into eternity.
The orderly manner in which the whole proceeeing:.
were conducted reflect much credit upon the prism
authorities.
She was about 44 years of ege, had been married 18
years, and had eleven children—the eldest only, a.
daughter, is now alive; the second, a boy, died of a bowel
complaint at the ago of fourteen weeks; all the rest,
with the exception of the last but one, the unhapp)
woman acknowledged that she poisoned a day or two
after their birth. She was extremely ill herself whe:
this chili was born, and it was in consequence taken to
a neighbour. It died a fortnight after, but she neve)
even saw it after it was taken from her. Seven of het
children she destroyed by administering to them a poisoi,
she called " blue," used for destroying rats and mica
and which she said she took from the ricks, where i
had beers placed for that purpose. The last child she
poisoned with arsenic, and in each case she put th•
poison in the child's mouth with her finger. She im•
plicated no other person in the crime; she, and she alana
did it, and no one else knew anything about it. Fro n.
the first week of her marriage down to the last whici
she lived with her husband, he had been given to drunk-
enness; and it was that, she said, drove her to he.
crimes. He scarcely ever brought home a. shilling o
his wages. She herself toiled hard in the field durir4
the day, and at night she came home and washed, an.
did alt the household work. With nothing, thet,
to maintain the family but what she hersel
earned, which was four shillings a week, and the
only when she could procure work in tho fields, th.
fear that the children would come to want operated s)
powerfully upon her, that she destroyed them in the way
stated. Her father and mother lived at Bretton, ant
attended the Baptist chapel at that place, her mothe,
being a member. They were much opposed to th:
marriage ; and, knowing the husband's habits o
drunkenness, they frequently endeavoured to persuadt
her to leave him and again come to their home. A
was stated last week, on the death of her father, sln
came into possession of 100/ ; and about this time sla
and her husband went to live at Westbury, and rented
ten acres of land ; but the money was soon dissipated ;
and there is no doubt the woman has undergone man)
and severe privations.
Two women were constantly with her night and day.
from the time of her condemnation to her execution ;
end she frequently expressed her gratitude for the atten
Lion paid her by the chaplain and by the governor of tilt
prison, and Mrs. Haywood ; the kindness of the latter
towards her was unbounded.
This is the fourth person that has been executed it
front of the prison since its erection in 1810 :—viz..
Goodman and Amor, on the 20th of April, 1824, for
robbing and assaulting Mr. Thomas Alexander, of All-
tannings, on the highway ; and George Maslen, on the
6th of September, 1838, for maliciously shooting at Mr.
Bryan Rumbold.

AN AWKWARD Fix.--On Friday afternoon a van,
laden with furniture, belonging to a person named Tho
mas, a greengrocer, residing in the Edgeware-road,
proceeding over the bridge of the Paddington canal,
when an extraordinary circumstance occurred. The
bridge, it will be remembered, is near the New Loch
Hospital, where there is a considerable declivity. Nei
ther of the wheels of the waggon was " skidded," so tha
in the descent there was a tremendous pressure on th.
haunches of the wheel horse. He was forced forward:,
on the leader, which took fright, and drew the wagger,
to the side of the road. The leader leaped a fence, about
three feet high, into a paddock, belonging to Mr. White,
and the wheel horse followed the example, but was caught
by his hind legs, and the poor animal was fixed in dread
ful agony until .a saw was procured, and it was liberated.
The leader was unhurt.

CORONER'S INQUEST.—INFANT KILLED DY LAU-
DANUM.—On Friday Mr. H. M. Wakley held an inquest
at the Sugar Loaf, King-street, Drury-lane, on the body
of Alice. Caroline Mills, an infant, about a month-old,
who came by her death under the following melancholy
circumstances:—Frederick Mills, a herald painter, fathe,
of deceased, deposed that he and his wife were going ti
the Victoria Theatre on Mondayevening last, and,beir4
obliged to take their baby, they thought it would be ad-
visable to give it some laudanum, so that it should re-
main quiet during the performances. The quantity
given was net more than one drop, and that was put int(
the infant's mouth with some brown sugar. Whilst pro
ceeding along the Waterloo-road they thought the child
looked unusually ill, and, having partaken of some beer
the landlady also noticing the baby's appearance, they
took it into a doctor's shop, where the surgeon said ti
witness, " You must go home, and put it in a warm bait
directly." lle and his wife immediately took a cab and
went home, and did as they were desired by the medics'
gentleman; but the bath did not seem to du the infant
any good; witness therefore went to another surgeon,
wso gave him an emetic to give the baby. The mediein,
did not unfortunately operate, and the child died, after a
troublesome night, on Tuesday morning, about seven
o'clock. Dr. Bennett, parish surgeon of St. Giles's, de-
posed that he had made a post mortem examination, an-
deceased died of congestion of the brain, which was no
doubt caused by the administration of opium. The jury.
after consulting for some time, returned a verdict o'
" Died from the effect of laudanum, given for the purpose
of making the child sleep, and not otherwise."
THE ADMIRALTY PACKET SERVICE AT HOLY
HEAD.—We have reason to believe that the Admiralty
packet service between Holyhead and Kingstown, to-
gether with the establishment for repairs, &c., at Holy
head, will very shortly the transferred to the London,
Holyhead, and Dublin Steam Packet Company, tha
company entering into a contract for the conveyance of
the mails, and purchasing from the Admi-
ralty two of their boats. At present the loss is
very great to both parties,—in fact, the
Admiralty do not know the end of their expense, as the
repair of the packets and the cost of conducting the ser-
vice, in spite of the attempts to keep them separate and
distinct, must, in some degree, be mixed up with the ac-
counts and expenses of the regular royal naval service.
In such a limited sphere of operations as between Holy-
head and Kingstown, it will, doubtless, be to the advan-
tage of the country that the service should be performed
by a private company, provided that they are responsible
men, and the Admiralty have sufficient guarantees of
their solvency and their ability to carry out any con-
tract they may execute. But we must say that it would
bo preferable to deal with parties totally independent of
a railway which, from the extent of its capital and the
stupendous nature of its works, has no prospect
of success for a quarter of a century. We be•
lieve the two boats to be reserved by the Admiralty
will be the Banshee and the Llewellyn, which vessels,
it is likely, will be sent to the Mediterranean for the
lonian packet service.—United Service Gazette.
FATAL ACCIDENT.—On Friday morning, at eight
o'clock, a fatal accident occurred at Copenhagen-fields,
on the spot where the East and West India Dock Rail-
way crosses the Great Northern Railway by a temporary
bridge. While the workmen of Mr. Jay, the contractor
for the latter establishment in that locality, were em-
played in placing some additional support under the
bridge, the driver of a loaded waggon approached the
bridi.;e; and, al:hough warned not to attempt to pass
over it until the necessary props should be placed to
make all secure, persisted in his course, and drove on to
the centre of the bridge. The consequence was the
bridge gave way, the waggon and horses fell into the
works of the Great Northern Railway, a depth of 30
feet, and one of Mr. Jay's workmen and two horses were
killed upon the spot.
EXTENSIVE ROBBERY OF JEWELS.—On Friday
morning Osborne House, Grand Parade, Brighton, was
entered and plundered of a rosewood dressing-case con-
taining jewels valued at 8001, the thieves getting clear
away with their booty.