The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-07 00:00:00

THE CONVICTS UNDER SEN

TENCE OF DEATH.
THE CASE OP MARY ANN HUNT.
We understand that a few days since Sir George
Grey, Bart., Secretary for the Home Department,
gave directions to three gentlemen, eminent in the
medical profession, to examine the state of Mary Ann
Hunt, now under sentence of• death in Newgate, for
the murder of Mary Stowell in Marylebone, and that
the result of their inquiry is, an unanimous opinion
that the verdict of the jury of matrons was wrong,
and that the unfortunate woman is beyond doubt
"quick with child." Of course, under these circum-
stances, the sentence will not for the present be carried
into execution.

THE CASE OF HUTCHINGS.
In the case of Hutchings convicted at the last ses-
sions of the Central Criminal Court for the murder
of his wife at Deptford, and now a prisoner under
sentence of death in Maidstone gaol, we are informed
that the Secretary of State for the Home Depart-
ment, after a minute inquiry, does not consider it ad-
visable to recommend her Majesty to interpose her
royal prerogative. Consequently the sentence of the
law will be carried into effect at Maidstone on Mon-
day next, unless in the meantime some circumstances
favourable to the culprit should be brought forward.

EXECUTION OF THOMAS LEITH.
Yesterday morning, at Dundee, the extreme
penalty of the law was inflicted on this unfortunate
individual. Crowds from all quarters flocked to the
scene of the execution from an early hour. It is
believed that there could not be fewer than 12,000
persons present. On the night preceding Leith
slept little, and at about five o'clock in the morning
he rose and dressed himself. Several clergymen
were in attendance upon the unhappy man from about
six in the morning, and engaged in devotional ex-
ercises with him until the moment that the fatal
procession moved to the scaffold. Leith walked up
the steps with great composure, and even declined
assistance. On presenting himself on the scaffold a
slight murmur ran through the crowd, but it
speedily subsided. After looking around him, the
convict (being pinioned) requested a clergyman to
take off his hat, whereupon he addressed the
assembled multitude. He remarked that he
had never seen so large an assemblage at
any previous execution, and that, had he
been tried before an impartial tribunal, he
mould not have been in the situation he
now was. On the eve of appearing before another
tribunal, he solemnly avowed himself innocent of
the crime laid to his charge; he was as innocent of it
as any one now in that vast assemblage, though,
perhaps, the unhappy differences betwixt himself and
his wife may have led many to think him a mur-
derer. He forgave all who bore witness against him
at his trial, and he hoped they would be forgiven by
God. After addressing the spectators, Leith stepped
beneath the drop, when the executioner adjusted the
white cap, and in a few minutes the unhappy man
was launched into eternity. Owing to the shortness
of the rope, Leith seemed to suffer a good deal. Im-
mediately before the closing scene, a clergyman
stepped forward and put the question to Leith, " Are
you guilty or not guilty ?" and the convict at once
turned round, put his r
The parting of Leith withight hand on his heart, and
said, " I am not guilty."
his children, on the previous evening, was very
heartrending. To them, too, he maintained his
innocence. By his own request a cast of his head
was taken previous to interment within the precincts
of the gaol. —Scotsman of yesterday.

APPREHENSION OF AN EX-POLICEMAN ON A
CHARGE OF PERJURY, &c.----The police, who have long
been in seareh of Simon Gordon Mackenzie, who for
some time was in the Argyleshire rural police force, suc-
ceeded on Saturday in apprehending him on a charge of
, perjury. At the Glasgow April Circuit, 1845, a person
named Andrew Brebner was convicted of forging the
name of an eminent Glasgow citizen to a bill of ex-
change, under circumstances evincing much daring and
ingenuity. Ile was sentenced to twenty years' trans-
portation. From what took place at the trial, and from
facts which transpired afterwards, it was deemed proper
to indict two men, vie., Niel Darroch and Simon Gordon
Mackenzie, for trial on a charge of perjury. Darroch
was convicted at the Glasgow January Circuit of 1846,
and sentenced to seven years' transportation; but
Mackenzie, who had been out on bail, thought it his
wisest course not to appear before his betters, and
bolted, it is understood, to America. If Mackenzie—
who had the audacity to threaten several of the
i Glasgow papers with libel actions, for having exposed
the part he took in the above-mentioned transaction—
ever reached the " land of liberty," a thing which we
very much doubt, he had again returned, and assumed
another name. Having, however, on Saturday to give
evidence in the Sheriff Court, Edinburgh, on a charge of
theft, he was there identified by two Glasgow officers,
apprehended and brought to Glasgow, where he remains
in " durance vile."--/Vw.th British Mail.
GOLD FlSH.—This beautiful little fish, called in
this country " Gold and Silver Fish," are originally na-
tives of China and ,Japan, where they are held in great
estimation, and are called Kinyu. From China the
it gi
el
ni sal:
acarried m some of them to the Island of St.
thence the Captain of one of our East
India ships brought some of them to England in the year
1728. It is said by a learned foreigner (Dr. Baster)
that having great quantities of them in his ponds, he
used to regale his friends with them, and had them
dressed with various sauces ; but that egg-sauce in par-
ticular, gave them an excellent relish, even superior to
carp. These fish are said to grow no larger in China
than an anchovy, but they are to be seen in England of
the length of ten or twelve inches ; so that our climate
seems to agree with them better than that of their na-
tive country. It is the second year of their age that
they acquire that splendid appearance fur which they
are so prized ; that they undergo but little or no change
in the third year ; but that there are many of them that
continue always black.

SUICIDE OF MADAME VIDOCQ.—The wife of the
well-known ex-police agent, Vidocq, has just committed
suicide at St. Mande, where her husband had some
years ago attempted to establish a paper manufactory.
She had been for some time suffering from a tumour,
which the faculty lately declared to be incurable. On
Thursday, being alone with the nurse who attended her,
she asked for a glass of eau sucree. This being brought,
she told the woman to bring her from the cupboard a
little phial, which she said contained essence of orange- i
fl ,wer, but which was in reality laudanum. She poured
some of this into the glass, and, in consequence of takini,
it, expired in an hour afterwards, declaring that she had'
put an end to her existence in order to escape from the
intolerable &uffering which she endured. The clergy of
St. Maned having refused to receive the body into the
church, it was carried direct to the cemetery, under the
surveillance of the commissary of polioe. Some work-
men, and the pen:. f Lila oommune, to each of whom
'
Vidocq had distributed an 81b. loaf, followed the corpse.
—Galignani s Messenger.
A private meeting of the friends of Mr. Craven
Berkeley has been hefd mt the Lamb, and 1,100/. have
been raisvl tGwards a fund for the prosecution of a
Cheltenham.
petition against the return of the present Member for