The Sun.
London, England, 1834-04-12 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

WESTERN CIRCUIT.—TAUNTON, APRIL 9.
(Before Mr. JUStiCI BoSANQURT.)

George Hand, aged 52, a robust-looking man,
was charged with having feloniously set on fire two
mows of hay, the property of Charles Keedwell.
Mr. Justice BOSANQUET having summed up the
evidence,
The Jury found the prisoner Guilty.
Mr. Justice BOSANQUET, in passing upon him the
extreme penalty of the law, told him that he must
not expect a mitigation of that punishment. He
had been convicted on the clearest evidence of
having maliciously set fire to the property of a per-
son who had employed him, and whose property he
ought to protect, in order to gratify a grudge. His
Lordship felt that he should be committing a breach
of his duty-if he recommended a remission of the
sentence which he was now about to pronounce.
He, therefore, exhorted the prisoner not to entertain
the least hopes that the punishment would be mi-
tigated.
The prisoner persisted in denying his guilt, and
did not seem at all affected by the sentence.

DISCHARGE OF JACK KETCH FROM

HIS CIVIC OFFICE.

In the Gaol Committee at Guildhall, last week, it,
was proposed that in accordance with the economical
principle upon which it is expected City affairs will
be in future conducted, Mr. Cope, the Governor of
Newgate, should be directed to inquire into the
sinecure offices of his establishment, with a view to
the abolition of such offices. The Governor, upon
looking over his catalogue, found that the two
executioners had had no duties to perform during

the last year, except upon three occasions, and that
they had received for their labours no less than
1401. within that period between them. He there-
fore informed the Committee that he should be able
to dispense•with the services of Joseph• Osman, the
junior Jack Ketch, especially as capital punishments
were now so seldom carried into effect, and were
abolished in most cases of forgery. The Governor
subsequently gave notice to Osman that he might
look out for some other situation, as the senior exe-
cutioner could without difficulty perform the duties
himself, intimating, however, that if any unexpected
accession of business should take place, immediate
notice should be given to the junior to lend a hand.
Osman expostulated with the Governor upon the
cruelty of depriving him and his wife and two chil-
dren of bread, begged to know whether he had not
done his duty like a man, and represented the dis-
agreeable consequences which must arise from a
strike on the morning of an execution—a case in
which the Sheriff himself would be obliged to officiate
as the hangman. Mr. Cope admitted the force of
the appeal, but advised Jack• to write a petition
forthwith to the Court of Aldermen. Osman took
the advice, and sent the following petition to the
Court of Aldermen, through the hands of Alderman
Winchester :

" To the Worshipful the Court of Aldermen of
the City of London, the humble petition of
Joseph Osman,
" Showeth, that your petitioner has been informed
by Mr. Cope, the new Governor of Newgate, that he,
the said Joseph Osman, is forthwith to be discharged
from his situation as executioner"to the city of Lohdon,
on the plea of his services being no longer required,
by which dismissal himself, with his wife and two chil-
dren, will be thrown into a state of complete destitu-
tion and wretched misery.
Your
;petitioner, therefore, begs to state to the
consideration of this most honourable and respectable
Court, that upon his appointment to the situation
(which he has now held four years), Mr. Wontner,
the Governor of Newgate then, received a good
character with your petitioner, and that his charac-
ter has been most excellent throughout, having al-
ways been sober, honest, clean, and faithfully attentive
to the punctual discharge of the duties of his office ;
that he was never arraigned at the bar of Justice in the
whole course of his life ; that. he had the honour to be
appointed to.the office he ells by the Worshipful Court
itself, and that so far from his services being no longer
required, it is impossible for one individual to do
the thing at the time of the execution, and that the
casual attendance of an assistant from time to time,
particularly when a great deal of business is in hand,
would be attended with as much expense to the City
of London as the continuance of your petitioner in the
aforesaid office.

" Furthermore, your petitioner humbly implores
you, as gentlemen, to take into your most humane
consideration that, in the event of his discharge, he
will lose all means of support, inasmuch as vulgar pre-
judice will prevent his being employed, on account of
the unpleasing nature of his present duties ; that, if
he does get employed, it must be in some very low
capacity, where people would always be reminding
him of his former work, and holding him up to ridi-
cule, although he never offended against propriety in
performing his duties, which, as in duty bound, he will
be always most anxious and willing to perform towards
your Honourable Court, and he will ever pray.•
" JOSEPH OSMAN."

The petition is referred to the members of the
Gaol Committee, who, it is believed, will continue
Mr. Osman in his office, in consequence of the
great addition about to be made by the new bill to
the general business at the Old Bailey, and on ac-
count of the report of the various sheriffs, who have
superintended the executions at that place, as to
the many grea,t qualifications of the petitioner to
" lend a hand.' The present sheriffs are particularly
interested, for when Alderman Ansley was Sheriff,
the executioners, who were at that time paid by
piecework, refused to tie up a convict until their
salaries were secured to them. Half-past eight
o'clock actually arrived, and the Sheriff was obliged
to agree to the terms, in order to be saved the un-
pleasant alternative of "scragging" the malefactor
himself.