The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-21 00:00:00

THE CONVICT RUSH.

NORWICH, FRIDAY EVENING.—The guilty man who
is to meet his fate to-morrow continues to eat and sleep
well, and to enjoy-life --to the last. The accounts that
have appeared from time to time aS to his depression of
spirits are entirely without foundation. He exhibits no
sign of repentance, nor any desire to purge his breast of
the tremendous crime which must be preying on it.
Those who have the best opportunities of judging are
strongly of opinion that he will die without confession.
He perseveres in the most solemn declarations of his in•
nocence, and upbraids Emily Sandford most bitterly, as-
serting that she forswore herself at the trial, and that
had it not been for her evidence he should have been
acquitted. Yesterday ho asked the turnkeys if they had
begun to fix the machine,- but no answer was made.
He then expressed a hope that it might' be a
fine day. The Rev. Mr. Brown, chaplain to the gaol,
the Rev. Mr. Andrews, and the Rev. Mr. Blake, of Fel
raingham, have all been most assiduous in their efforts to
bring the unhappy criminal to a due sense of the awful
position
is which he stands. But these efforts have been
attended with very little apparent success, and, to use
the strong.but no doubt accurate language of a gentle-
man to whom I applied for information on the subject,
Hush has exhibited sincerity iu nothing except in the
practice of deception. The expression appears to be a
contradiction, but it is difficult to analyse the workings
of a murderer's mind, and the same idiosyncrasy of cha•
meter which led Rush to purloin so dexterously the 401.
cheque from the note-book in a crowded court, with all
eyes upon him, may account for his realising the old
aphorism, that a man who begins by deceiving others
often ends by deceiving himself. Last night, as pre-
viously, he slept very soundly. The account which has
appeared as to his interview with his children is very
incorrect,- as will be seen by the following extract from
the Nor folk Chronicle:—

. .
" On Monday last Rush had an interview with his
children at the Castle, the younger ones coming to take
their last sad leave of him. Mr. Soames, their uncle,
did not accompany the family, .as had been stated; nor
did the Governor of the Castle introduce them into the
cell; nor did the prisoner offer up any prayers, either
during or after the visit. Other particulars given are
sheer invention. The family came from Potash and
Felminghanrom Monday morning; and the two parties
meet at the Bell Inn, Orford-hill, whence they proceeded
to the Castle. The interview did not take place in the
cell, but in a room appropriated for the use of those vi-
sitors who may wish, and are permitted, to see any crimi-.
nal; in Rush's case this permission has not been given ex-
cept to his nearest relational, and the members of his own fa-
mily. When the latter arrived on Monday, he was informed
of their being in the Castle; ho buried his face in his
hands as if he was much affected. Being taken into the
visitors' room, and placed in such a position that the
Governor could hear and see everything that passed,
his children were immediately ushered into the apart-
. ment, and, as may be supposed, a natural outburst of
feeling ensued; but on . this occasion, though the
wretched man protested that he was innocent, he was not
guilty -of the religious hypocrisy described. He did not
offer up any prayers, nor recommend his children to the
protecting care of' the Almighty, as stated. After an
interview of half an hour parent and children parted,
some of them not to meet again in this world. When
the family left the Castle a crowd of people collected
outside the gates to witness their departure. They re-
paired to the Bell, where Miss Rush remained; the
other daughters, after partaking of refreshment, h
re-
turning to Foliningham, where they are residing with
their governess in a house which Rush built there about
four years ago. Mr. James Rush and his youngerCo
brother returned to Potash; but the former returned
Norwich on Tuesday, and, accompanied by Miss Rush,
had another. interview with his father the same evening.
This interview was repeated on Wednesday.'
We also annex the true particulars as to the lost cheque,
which have been misrepresented:—
In the pocket-book of the prisoner, exhibited imf
t there was a clieque for 401. On the night after
eurthecOnviction inforiiiition was given to Mr. Pinson, the
, governor of the Castle, that this cheque was missing ;
and he questioned, the prisoner, in order to ascertain, on
the part of the family, whether he hadpapgeorts,ita.ndMhro.
finisein' was about-to-take. away- all hls