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

TEE EXECUTION OF BOUSFIELD.

FURTHER PARTICULARS.
One of those dreadful spectacles, happily now of ra7e
occurrence—a public executian—took place yesterday
mqriiin in the metropolis, in the front of the gaol of
NewgaLe.
The culprit was William Bousfield, who was convicted
at the March sessions of the Central Criminal Court
of the murder of his wife in a most horrible manner,

by cutting her throat and wounding her in several
other party of the body with a chisel, there being also
three other indictments against him for murdering

his three children at the satno time and with the same

instiument. The dreadful acts appeared to have beta
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 iii
Bow-street, and avowed the fact, and delivered himself
up to the police. The learned counsel who defended
him at the trial (Mr. Ballantme) admitted that he was
entirely helpless as to a defence, except that the enor-
mity of the crime was in itself a proof that the prisoner
could not have been in his right senses when he com-
mitted it ; and the jury, having at once returned a ver-
dict of guilty, the law was left to take its tour-e.
Almost from the moment of his being committed for
trial the prisoner exhibited a peculisr 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 bis
own sake, if not for that of the public, not 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 make 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 jealuu-y was the primary cause of
the dreadful tragedy, and in a letter written by the pri-
Honer to his father he accused his wife of having coin-
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 he appeared desirous to impress
the authorities of the prison by his conduct that hia
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 remonstra.ted
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 aware that
the condemned cell, which was formerly the receptacle
for prisoners condemned to death for the short period of
their lives then allowed by the law after seeteuce, 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 iitjury. The prisoner had a good deal of hair under
his chic, 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 tiat from
this time the prisoner refused to take any sustenance,
and the only nutriment be received from Saturday after-
noon to the time appointed for his execution was a small
quantity of milk, and that was almost forcibly adminis-
teredl to him with a spoon.
It is due to the sheriffs, Messrs. Kennedy and Rose,
to state that they have taken a most painful interest in
the unhappy man, and they have granted every facility
for representations to be made in the proper quartem
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 has'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
attentions did not Deem to be attended with any 511CCet/

the prisoner to the last remained dogged and silent, and
refused all explanation upon the subject of his critneß.
As early as six o'clock yesterday morning Mr. Sheriff
Rose, accompanied by his brotherand deputy, Mr. J. A.
11ase, was in attendance, and Mr. Sheriff Kennedy and
Mr. Under Sheriff Stone shortly afterwards arrived at
the gaol. The , Rev. Mr. Davis had been with the
wretched man from an earlier hour, but all his endea-
vours to induce bim to receive the consolations of roll-

pion were ineffectual. He appeared, indeed, in an
almost totally prostrate condition, and Mr. Weather-
bead, the newly-appointed governor of Newgate, directed
that some wine should be given to him. When the
authorities, whose painful duty it was to superintend the
execution, were admitted to the room where the wretched
man was confined he was found sitting on a sort of couch
that formed his bed, with his head buried in his breast,
and apparently utterly unconscious of what was passing
around him. Calcraft, the executioner, at once pro•
ceeded to pinion the culprit, and when this had been
completed the prisoner vomited for a considerable time,
and the whole of his physical powers appeared to have
left lain,. There can be no doubt, how ever, from what
subsequently occurred, that a good deal of this was as-
sumed, in the hope, possibly, that some of the usual pre-
cautions would be neglected, and that he might thus be
enabled to carry out the plan he had evidently cottem-
, plated of creating a scene on the scaffold. Fortunately,
however, notwithstanding the apparently prostrated
condition of the prisoner, he was securely pinioned, and
bis subsequent desperate proceedings on the scaffold
only had the effect of increasing his own sufferings.
' When the ceremony of pinioning had been completed,
the prisoner let his head drop on his breast, and he appeared
to have already felt the pang of death. Eight o'clock,
the fatal hour for the execution, haring arrived, the
prisoner was raised by four men, and in that manner
oenveyed to the scaffold. As he appeared totally unable
to stand, it was considered the best course to be adopted
was to place him in a chair under the beam, and he was
sustained in that position by one of the assistants, while
Calcraft fixed the rope in its proper position. The Rev.
Mr. Davis accempaniei the wretched man, but from his
apparent state it seemed useless to perform the usual
offices of religion. When the signal was given the chair
i❑ which the wretThed man was still seated, of course
gave way with the drop, and consequently the fell was
not ne trl v so great as it is under ordinary circumstances,
an 1 at ttii.3 dreadful moment the prisoner attempted to
eery out the desperate struggle for life which be evi-
deaily contemplated. The sound of the falling drop
lad scarcely passed away, when there was a shriek from
the crowd of "He is up again," and, to the horror of
cite ry one, it was found that the prisoner, by a powerful
muscular effort, had dra en himself up completely to the
level of the drop, and that both his feet were resting
upon the edge of it, and he was vainly endeavouring to
raise hn hands to the rope. One of the officers iintne-
,iiately rushed upon the scaffold and pushed the wretched
man's feet from their hold ; but in an instant, by a vio-
lent effort, he threw himself to the other'side, and again
succeeded in getting both his feet on the edge of the
drop. Calcraft, who had left the scaffold, imagining
that all was over, was called back, and he seized hold
of the wretched criminal, and it was with considerable
difficulty that he could force him from the scaffold, and
he was again suspended. The short relief the wretched
man had obtained from the pressure of the rope by
those desperate proceedings had probably enabled him
to respire ; and, to the astonishment and horror of
the spectators, he a third time succeeded in placing
his feet upon the platform, and again his hands
vainly attempted to reach the fatal rope. Calcraft
and two or three other men then again forced the
wretched man's feet from their hold, and his legs
were held dcwn until the final struggle was over.
Wluie this fearful scene was being enacted the bells of
the diff-rent neighbouring churches were ringing merrily
upon the aninuncement of peace, offering a sad contrast
to the melancht}if proceedings.
At 9 o'clock time body of the prisoner was cut down
and placed in a shell, and in the evening it was buried
in the gaol, pursuant to the terms of the sentence.
The crowd assembled upon the occasion appeared to
be much smaller than usual.