The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-01 00:00:00

THE EXECUTION OF BOUSFIELD.

FURTHER PARTICULARS.
One of those dreadful spectacles, happily now of rare
occurrence—a public ezecuti )n—took place yesterday
m.rnin,; in the metropolis, in the front of the gaol of

Newgaie.
The culprit was William Buusfielil, who was convicted
at the 'March sessions of the Central Crimiral Court

of the murder of his wife in a m,)st horrible manner,

by cutting her throat and wounding her in several
other part of the body with a chisel, there being also
three other indictments against him for murdering
his three children at the same time and with the same

instrument. The dreadful acts appeared to have been
committed without any motive that was apparent, and
the wretched man, after he had destroyed his wife
and children, went straight to the police-station in
Bow-street, and avowed the fact, and delivered himself
up to the police. The learned counsel who defended
him at the trial (Nlr. Ballantiue) admitted that he was

entirely helpless as to a defence, except that the enor-
mity of the crone was in itself a proof that the prisoner
could not have been in his right senses when he c
nn-
mitted it ; and the jury, having at once returned a ver-
dict of guilty, the law was left to take its cour-e.
Almost from the moment of his being committed for
trial the prisoner exhibited a peculiar sullen and taciturn
demeanour, and he evaded every attempt to obtain
some clue as to the causes that could have induced him
to commit such atrocious acts ; but although the Rev.
Mr. Davis, the ordinary of the gaol, has paid him unre-
mitting attention, and frequently conjured him for his
own sake, if not for that of the public, riot to leave the
world without giving some explanation upon the subject,
it proved of no avail. Upon some occasions he appeared
as though he was inclined to.lnake a statement upon the
subject, but after saying a few words he would suddenly
appear to check himself, and not a syllable more would
escape his lips. Enough, however, has transpired to
make it appear that jealowy was the primary cause of
the dreadful tragedy, and in a letter written by the pri-
sener to his father he accused his wife of having corn-
mit•ed adultery ; and it appears that one of the unhappy
children who died by his hand had informed him, a few
days before the fatal occurrence, that she had seen a
young man who was in the habit of frequenting the cigar
shop kept by his wife kiss her, and this, it would appear,
greatly infuriated the prisoner, and very probably led
to the fatal result. It was very evident for some time
that the prisoner entertained strong hopes that his life
would be spared ; and ho appeared desirous to impress
the authorities of the prison by his conduct that his
mind was affected. His proceedings in this respect were,
however, of so clumsy a character that the deception was
immediately detected, and upon his being remonstrated
with and reminded that such a course could not by any
possibility benefit him, he at once desisted. The ordi-
nary was constantly engaged in reading and conversing
with the unhappy man in the hope that he might be
brought to a proper sense of his awful position, but it
appeared that his exhortations were attended with very
little effect.
On Saturday the prisoner made a most desperate at-
tempt at self-destruction. The public are a.vare that
the condemned cell, which was formerly the receptacle
fur prisoners condemned to death for the short period of
their lives then allowed by the law after sentence, is no
longer made use of, but the prisoner is placed in a suffi-
ciently comfortable room, at this period of the year with
a good fire, and watched night and day by one of the
officers of the gaol. It appears that en Saturday after-
noon the prisoner was visited by two of his sisters.
They were very much distressed, as may be conceived,
under the circumstances ; but the prisoner exhibited a
good deal of indifference, and very little passed at the
interview. After his sisters had left him, Bousfield was
seated upon the edge of his bed, which is close to the
fire place, the officer being quite near him, when he
suddenly started from his seat and threw himself head
foremost upon the grate. The officer immediately rushed
upon him and dragged him from his perilous position,
and, with assistance, his clothes, which were on fire,
were pulled off, and he thus escaped from receiving ma-
terial injury. The prisoner had a good deal of hair under
his chin, and this had ignited, and the mouth and lower
parts of the face were severely burned. Mr. Gibson, the
surgeon of the gaol, was at once sent for, and he found
that all that could be done was to apply cooling lotions
to the face, to relieve the pain, and these were con
tinued almost constantly during the remaining period
of the wretched man's existence. It appeared that from
this time the prisoner refused to take any sustenance,
and the only nutriment he received from Saturday after-
noon to the time appointed for his execution was a small
quantity of milk, and that was almost forcibly adminis-
tered to him with a spoon.
,
Aresf.es. Kennedy and Rose
It is due to the sheriffs,
to state that they have taken a most painful interest in
the unhappy man, and they have granted every 'agility
for representations to be made in the, proper quarter
with a view that if any facts existed that would justify, a
commutation of the sentence they should be made known.
The sheriffs or their deputies, Messrs. J. A. Rose and
Stone, have seen him almost every day since he ho'been
in the gaol, and they have joined their exhortations to
those of the ordinary to endeavour to bring the wretched
prisoner to a proper sense of his condition ; but, al-
though he appeared grateful for their kindness, their
attenticas did net seem to be attended with any SUCC0111;