The Sun.
London, England, 1833-01-07 00:00:00

EXECUTION OF JOHNSON, THE

MURDERER.-(T RI DAY.)

This morning this wretched culprit was executed at the
Old Bailey, pursuant to his sentence, for the murder of
Benjamin Couch Danhy. at Enfield, on the 19th of
December. Shortly after his condemnation he appeared
to regard the awful fate that awaited him with compara-
tive indifference, but that feeling gradually wore off as
the short remains of time allotted for his existence be-
came more limited ; the pious exhortations of the Rev.
Dr. Cotton, the Ordinary, and of Mr. Baker, who were
most laudably employed in preparing him to meet his
doom with resignation, contributed much to effect a great
change in his conduct, and eventually led him to unburden
his mind of the load of guilt which encumbered it. He
then confessed that his sentence was a just one, and that
he deserved to die ; but his confession tended to implicate
the witness Cooper, who, he declares, cut the deceased
first on the throat and cheek, and that afterwards the
bloody deed was finished by himself. The confession was
afterwards reduced to writing by Mr. Sheriff Humphery,
whose humane attentions to the unhappy culprit have been
most incessant. A c 'py of the confessio❑ will be found
below. After having removed that load from his mind
he became more reigned for a short time, when a visible
change came over him : as the time approached he be-
came despairing, and at last fell into almost a state of
torpidity, from which he could not be said to be roused
up to the period of his execution.
Yesterday afternoon his sister, a very decent-looking
young seaman, visited him for the last time. On her
part the interview was most affecting, but he appeared to
be insensible to all feeling. His wise also visited him, but
that interview seemed more like a formal one than one in
which affection had any share. That might probably be ac-
counted for, by their having, for some time past, lived apart
from each other, owing, as, as we understand, to his
treatment of her. She is rather an interesting looking
young woman, and is enceinte. She had hid two chil-
dren by him, hut fortunately they did not survive to wit-
ness their parent's disgrace.
During the night the drop was placed at its usual sta-
tion, opposite the debtors'-door, Newgate, and at an early
hour this morning:, a vast quantity of people assembled in
the neighbourhood of it. We understood that a great many
came all the way from Enfield to witness the execution of
a man so well known among them as the culprit was.
Between six and seven o'clock, the wretched culprit
was visited by Dr. Cotton, Mr. Baker, and Mr. Sheriff
Humphery, and they never left him until he was brought
out on the fatal (bop. Shortly before eight o'clock, he
was introduced into the press-room, leaning on Mr.
Sheriff Humphery. and supported by the officers who
were obliged to hold him, or he would have fallen ; in-
deed he appeared nearly in a state of insensibility, and
so great an alteration was visible in his countenance, that
he could scarcely be recognised by those who were present
at his trial. During the process of pinioning, Mr. Under
Sheriff Pitcher addressed a few words to him, imploring
him to put his trust in Christ. He replied, with great
difficulty, " I do, I do."—These were all the words he
uttered, and his breathing appeared more like convulsive
gasps than any thing else.
At o'clock the solemn procession moved through the
long and dreary passages of the gaol to the drop, and on
his being assisted on the platform he was received by the
immense assemblage with loud demonstrations of horror.
The noise appeared to thrill through his body, and took
away the last remnant of capacity to support himself. He
was obliged to he held up by two men until, by the usual
signal from the ordinary, he was launched into eternity.
Some time ago a female was found drowned at Enfield,
under very suspicious circumstances, and Johnson was
questioned if he had any knowledge of that transaction.
It will be seen from his confession that he denied having
had anything to do with it.
There appears, coupling the confession with Cooper's
evidence, to be much mystery, as to whose knife it was
with u hick the murder was perpetrated. Cooper swore
that it was Johnson'. knife ; Johnson, in his confession,
stated that he had no knife, and that it must have been
Cooper's. Several knives were found upon Cooper when
he was apprehended, and yesterday a person accidentally
passing the spot where the murder was committed, found
a clasp knife, with some blood on the handle, and it was
transmitted to Mr. Wontner, the Gov rnor of Newgate.
On its being shown to Johnson, he said he believed that to
be the knife, tint he said he could not swear to it. At all
events, from the notches in the blade, and the jagged ap-
pearance of the wounds inflicted on the deceased, is is not
improbable that it was the knife used on that horrible
occasion.

We have been kindly favoured by Mr. Baker, whose
valuable gratuitous assistance to unhappy culprits has
been for many years productive of the best results, with
some account of the conduct of Johnson, Fare, and
Cooper, since their first committal to prison. On the
morning after their entering the prison, he visited them,
and afforded them religious consolation, for which they all
appeared grateful, and expressed a desire to see him
again. On the following day they appeared impressed
with his remarks, but still there appeared no deep contri•
than in any of them. On Sunday, the 30th December,
Cooper appeared greatly depressed in spirits, wished to
have no communication with the other two, and ap-
peared alarmed at the thought of seeing them. John-
son and Fare appeared los° greatly agitated. They con-
tinued in this state until Thursday, when there appeared
a great alteration, and they seemed deeply affected. On
Friday, when Air. Baker informed Johnson and Fare that
Cooper was admitted King's evidence, their countenances
betrayed greet alarm and dismay. After the trial, and sen-
t.nce of death was passed on Johnson, the mob in the
prison yard gave a loud shout, which affected Johnson
very much, as he was being conveyed to the con.
demned cell. He became directly afterwards absorbed
in mental devotion, during which Mrs. Pixie, the
lady of one of the late Sheriffs, visited him in com-
pany with one of the Under-Sheriffs. His long
trial had, however, completely exhausted him, and
it was necessary to give hint a glass of port wine. From
that time the state of his mind was such, that he could
not he brought to enter into religious conversation.
'We understand that Johnson, about four or five years
ago, while he was a gardener in a gentleman's establish-
ment, was the principal witness against the footman in
the family, named Wood, for stealing a large quantity of
plate. Wood was executed, but it was at that time sus-
pected that Johnson was a particeps criminis in that affair.
The body of Johnson, after hanging the usual time,
was cut down, and wts to be interred in a passage of the
prison near the spot where the bodies of Thistlewood and
his associates were buried.

The following is a copy of Johnson's confession to Mr.
Sheriff Humphery :

Johnson said, " I had, with others, been drinking at the
public-house, and afterwards, about eleven or half past, we left,
accompanied with Danby, the deceased ; and, in going borne,
Fare left us ; and then Cooper, with Wagstaff and me, being
alone with Danby, Danby informed me that some one had
robbed him, and I was so frightened for fear that I should be
taken up for highway robbery, that I was determined not to
leave, but get him to some place of safety ; and in passing his
relation, the baker. I wanted to knock them up, but he would
not let me, and said they were gone to bell, and se we passed
on. But Ido wish that I had stopped there, then this would
not have happened; but it is now too late. As we were going
on, Cooper came up (he had been away above five mi-
nutes), and the moment Danby saw him, he said, in great agi-
tation, this is one of the chaps that robbed me, and he flew at
him (Cooper) like a tiger, and said he would serve him just the
same way he served a black man in the East Indies, and, in
the scuffle, we all went down on the ground by the ditch ; and
I do most solemnly say, that I did not trip up the deceased,
and that Cooper milt down with the deceased, and he also
was on the top of him (the deceased), and, while he was down,
Cooper had a knife—a clasp knife, I think—but the night was
so dark, I could not say which, and the point was as broad as
my two fingers, and he was cutting him the deceased); and I
do also most solemnly say, that I also took the knife, and cut
Danby, and did help to kill him. But the knife was not mine,
nor do I know where the knife came from. Cooper had it in
his hand when the deceased was on the ground in the ditch.
Knowing I must leave this world soon, I do most solemnly
avow, before God, in whose presence I must soon appear, that
Cooper first cut the deceased, and afterwards struck him, and
afterwards I stood by and saw Cooper take something out of his
pockets, he said I have three-halfpence, or one penny and one
halfpenny, and we were both very much frightened, and left
the deceased in the lane and went home across the fields. I
do also most solemnly say, that when we left the public-house
r e
we had no idea of killing him; and I do not know who robbed
him, but I suppose it must be Fare, as the money was found on
etie him, and it was proved he had been applying for f from
i
the parish. I can only say I had no hand in robbing him,
either directly or indirectly ; and what possessed m
eto pa r
pate in killing him I know not, but after the deed was done I
was ready to kill myself, and 1 now say that I ought to die for
committing such an act. The knife which Cooper said, on
his examination, was mine, and that it was a black-handled
one and small blade, I do again most solemnly avow I had lost
some time before, and had no knife with me when we left the
public-house ; and the night was so dark I could not distinctly
see the colour of the one that the deed was done with; and
after it was done I threw the knife into the ditch, and suppose,
the knife not being found, that Cooper must have picked it up.
The reason of Cooper's confession, I believe, was thinking j
should tell of hint first, and have him convicted ; but
we both said we should be hanged. I have no ill-will towards
any man, and I now leave this world for a crime which I shud.
der at. I had nothing to do with the murder of a female who
was found drowned in a ditch at Enfield;and I do know nothing
about it." Witness to the foregoing *mei:4W.