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

EXECUTION 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 ce.lcula-
tion of the number of persons present to witness the
awful scene—they were countless. From nine uniil
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-
sons thronging to the spot. People were there from
every part of the county—old, young, and infants; but
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 sho
was totally incapable of the unnatural crime of
which she was convicted. Free from guile or hy-
pocrisy, she at once unl-,?sitatingly 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, and 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 times 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 her fate 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.
Oa Tuesday last her husband and daughter, accom-
panied by her brother. and sister, anti 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 be made on his conduct, but
without any good impression. 'rhea sister, on the other
hand, was deeply affected, as was her brother—both of
them wept bitterly. As ithe time approached for her
execution she appeared to feel more deeply her dreadful
situation, and she passed rather a restless night ; but
she afterwards recovered her wonted calmness, and ate
tt modeaate breakfast in the morning.
Shortly before twelve the solemn tolling of the prison
bell announced that she had but a few minutes more to
live, and she was ushered from her cell. Accompanied
by the proper authorities, she was at once conducted to
the gallows, the Reverend Chaplain impressively
reading portions of the burial service as the
procession proceeded. During this time she did
not utter a word, nor did a sigh escape
her, but her countenance appeared quite composed and
her step firm. Arrived en the drop, the rope was in a
moment round her neck ; she clasped and raised her
hands together, as if in fervent prayer, and after a
slight struggle she was launched into eternity.
The orderly manner in which the whole proceedings
were conducted reflect much credit upon the prison
authorities.
She was about 44 years of age, 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 age of fourteen weeks; all the rest,
with the exception of the last but one, the unhappy
woman acknowledged that she poisoned a day or two
after their birth. She was extremely ill herself when
this child was born, and it was in consequence taken to
a neighbour. It died a fortnight after, but she never
even saw it after it was taken from her. Seven of her
children she destroyed by administering to them a poison
she called " blue," used for destroying rats and mic-,
and which she said she took from the ricks, where it '
had been placed for that purpose. The last child she
poisoned with arsenic, and in each case she put the
poison in the child's mouth with her finger. Sheim-
plicated no other person in the crime; she, and she alone,
did it, and no one else knew anything about it. From
the first week of her marriage down to the last which
she lived with her husband, ho had been given to drunk-
enness; and it was that, she said, drove her to her
crimes. He scarcely ever brought home a shilling of
his wages. She herself toiled hard in the field during
the day,a the eh
and ahtounsighotlsdhewcoar. With nothing, then,
to washed,homeand and
did
to maintain the family but what she herself
earned, which was four shillings a week, and that
only when she could procure work in the fields, the
fear that the children would come to want operated so
powerfully upon her, that she destroyed them in the way
stated. Her father and mother lived at Bratton, and
attended the Baptist chapel at that place, her mother
being a member. They were much opposed to the
marriage ; and, knowing the husband's habits of
drunkenness, they frequently endeavoured to persuade
her to leave him and again come to their home. As
was stated last week, on the death of her father, she
came into possession of 1001.; and about this time she
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 many
and severe privations.
Two women were constantly with her night and day,
from the time of her condemnation to her execution ;
and she frequently expressed her gratitude for the atten-
tion paid her by the chaplain and by the governor of the
prison, and Mrs. Haywood ; the kindness of the latter
towards her was unbounded.
This is the fourth person that has been executed in
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-
cannings, 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, was
proceeding over the bridge of the Paddington canal,
when an extraordinary circumstance occurred. The
bridge, it will be remembered, is near the New Lock
Hospital, where there is a considerable declivity. Nei-
ther of the wheels of the waggon was " skidded," so that
in the descent there was a tremendous pressure on the
haunches of the wheel horse. He was forced forwards
on the leader, which took fright, and drew the waggon
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 BY LAU-
DINUM.—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, father
of deceased, deposed that he and his wife were going to
the Victoria Theatre on Mondayevening last, and,being
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 not more than one drop, and that was put into
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 to
witness, " You must go home, and put it in a warm bath
directly." He and his wife immediately took a cab and
went home, and did as they were desired by the medical
gentleman; but the bath did not seem to do the infant
any good; witness therefore went to another surgeon,
who gave him an emetic to give the baby. The medicine
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 mw tem examination, and
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 Kiugstown, to•
gether with the establishment for repairs, &c., at Holy-
head, will very shortly Ibo transferred to the London,
Holyhead, and Dublin Steam Packet Company, that
company entering into a contract fur 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
be 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.--011 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-
ployed in placing some additional support under the
bridge, the driver of a loaded waggon approached the
bridge; and, although 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-
taming jewels valued at 8004 the thieves getting clear
away with their booty.