The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-08 00:00:00

FRIDAY

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH•

EXECUTION OF HUTCHINGg.

An extraordinary instance of the application of the
electric telegraph occurred yesterday at the London..
bridge terminus of the South-Eastern Railway.
Hutchings, the man found guilty and sentenced to
death for poisoning his wife, was to have been exe-
cuted at Maidstone Gaol at twelve o'clock. Shortly
before the appointed hour for carrying the sentence
into effect, a message was received at the London-
bridge terminus from the Home-office, requesting•
that an order should be sent by the electric telegraph
instructing the Under-Sheriff at Maidstone to stay
the execution two hours. By the agency of the
electric telegraph the communication was received in
Maidstone with the usual rapidity, and the execution
was for a time stayed. It seems that the Under-
Secretary of State had been in conference \With a
gentleman who had interested himself in the ease,
and a re-examination of the evidence was humanely
determined on ; pending the consultation the^
Under .Secretary ordered the temporary respite.
Shortly after the transmission of the order defer-
, ring the execution for two hours, a messenger from
the Home-office conveyed to the railway the Secre-
tary of State's order that the law was to take its
course, and that the culprit was to be at once exe-
cuted. As we have heard it stated, Mr. Macgregor,.
chairman of the South-Eastern Railway, happened
to be at the terminus when this order arrived. The
telegraph clerk hesitated in sending such a message
without instructions, and the propriety of transmit-
ting it was accordingly submitted to Mr. Macgregor.
The messenger from the Home-office could not be
certain that the order for Hutchings's execution was
signed by the Home Secretary, although it bore his
name, and accordingly Mr. Macgregor, with great
judgment and humanity, instantly decided that was
not a sufficient authority on such a momentous
matter.

It now became the duty of Mr. James Walter, the
chief superintendent of the South-Eastern Railway,
to see the Home Secretary on the subject of the
message, and accordingly Mr. Walter proceeded to
Downing-street, and stated to Sir Denis le Marchant,
the Under-Secretary of State, that the railway
company, in being required to deal with such a
mutter as a man's execution, must have the signature
of the order affixed in the presence of their respon—
sible officer ; that the second telegraphic message was
in fact a death warrant, and that Mr. Walter must
have undoubted evidence of its correctness. It is
stated that on Mr. Walter drawing the attention of
the Secretary of State to the fact that the transmission
of such a message was, in effect, to make him the
sheriff, the conduct of the railway company in re-
quiring unquestionable evidence and authority was
warmly approved. The proper signature was affixed
in Mr. Walter's presence, and the telegraph then
conveyed to the sad criminal news that the suspen-
sion of the awful sentence was only temporary.
Hutchings was executed soon after it reached Maid-
stone.

An extraordinary sensation was created in Maid-
stone ; it was generally believed that the man would
not be hanged. The Sheriff delayed the execution
the full time of two hours, and did not get the second
mandate, ordering the execution, until after the expi-
ration of the time. This was in consequence of the
wires being engaged in transmitting a message from
the Sheriff to the Home-office, so that the Secretary
of State's order could not pass through until the
Sheriff's conversation had ended. We believe this is
the first instance of the employment of the electric
telegraph on such a service.