The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-19 00:00:00

THE CASE OF DR. SIfETHU.RST.

`No further proceedings have taken place with
regard to the disposal of the prisoner, who still re-
mains in Horsemonger-lane Gaol as a' condemned
convict under respite from the Crown, and, from
all that can be ascertained upon the subject, there
appears to be a great difficulty in the minds of the
authorities as to what course should be taken in
the matter. The prisoner now occupies a cell by
himself, and under the special order of the visiting
magistrates he is permitted to have the free use of
writing materials, and he is relieved front the per-
formance of the usual labour, such as picking
Oakum, which is generally required from a con-
vict under similar circumstances; in fact, it ap-
pears that Many special indulgences are granted to
him. He is, of course, as energetic as ever in the
protestation of his innocence, and is engaged the
greater part of the day in writing a history of the
case, and remarks upon the evidence that was ob-
tained at the trial, andzhen this is finished it will
be submittted to the Ilk retary of State, the pri-
soner hoping that it will have the effect of induc-
ing the Government to grant him a free pardon,
which is the object he evidently wishes to attain.
There is no doubt that the prisoner himself en-
tertains a very strong impression that he shall
altogether escape, and the manner in which he has
been treated since he has been in Horsemonger-lane
Gaol would go very far to create that feeling in his
mind. It would seem, however, that since the culprit
has been reprieved, there has been a considerable
reaction in the mind of the public with regard to
the prisoner, and a good many of those who for-
merly professed themselves satisfied that he was
innocent, or that at all events the crime of murder
was not established by the evidence that was ad-
duced for the prosecution, now appear to have con-
siderably modified that opinion ; and this feeling
has been increased since the publication of the
letter of Dr. Todd, one of the most eminent physi-
cians of the day, which appeared during the last
few days, and in which that gentleman, who must
be altogether without bias or interest in the matter,
tst
oro
il
ate
hlmn ,
ethlaeydt
mrtebiinet learetaetthsi
otenhf eo
froiipsr oaannn
tkhee e
sv exprpoison,
essed a b
uo tt
that
thehbai
st
cause alone. The prisoner, it should
be remem-
bered,d t
is only reprieved during her Majesty's plea-
sure, and although it has not been customary in
such a case to carry out the capital sentence, yet
there have been cases in. which this has been done,
and if the Government should be satisfied, as the
result of the inquiries that are still being made,
'that a murder was committed, there is very little
doubt that the sentence of death would still be
carried out.
It appears that before Dr. Smethurst was re-
moved from Newgate he expressed an anxious
desire that, if the sentence should be carried out,
Mr. Davis, the ordinary of that gaol, should visit
him before his execution • and he made the request
in a manner to induce a belief that he had some im-
portant communication to make to him. Should
this really be the case, the nature of that commu-
nication will now probably for ever remain a
secret; but the fact of his expressing the wish re-
ferred to may be positively relied upon.

[AuvEurisEmENT.]-11olloway's Pills and Ointment.—
Determination of blood to the head, flushing, blushing,
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avoided, and nervous embarrassment prevented. They in
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strong-nerved frame, and eradicate the doubts of the ner-
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living, or vex-anxiety, no equal remedy ,is attainable.
Without exaggeration they give muscular energy to the
paralysed, and ease to the pained.