The Sun.
London, England, 1832-08-24 00:00:00

DENNIS COLLINS.

Shortly after his trial Detr-ois Collins was removeil from
the prison at Abingdon to th,i.t of Reading, and although
sentence of detth was passed on him by the Judges, it is
intiversallv believed that his Majesty will commute the
''entence, and that he will be sent out of the country.
The Jury, within half an hour after the trial, desired that
a Petition might he drawn up for them to sign, beseeching
his Majesty to spare his life, which was accordingly done,
and this petition was signed by the whole of the Jurors.
The unhappy man has himself believed all along that he
Would be executed; but, as is not very surprising in one
Who had been on board a man-of-war all his life, he
looked on what he supposed his fate not only without the
least fear or emotion, but even with indifference. His
greatest dread was, that he might be acquitted entirely,
and turned out into the world again ; end lie said repeat-
" If my Priest (for he was a Catholic) would give
me the the Sacrament to-day I would a great deal rather go
and be executed to•morrow than be turned out into the
World, to undergo all the misery and starvation that I went
through for the six months before this happened." In
his manner there was nothing of bravado, and there was
not the slightest appearance of savageness about him.
)1,1,18 "in wish was, that the result of his trial might cause
"ini to be imprisoned for as he said that that would
"cure him a subsistence, and he should never have the op-
Portunity of doing any more mischief. He himself states,
that he has been twice confined as a lunatic, once on board
B"'Pt and once in Ireland ; and although perhaps not in-
sfttlei he has evidently a very hot and irritable temper, and
,4,ncies he has been ill used by almost every body,
i","ich is a way in which insanity often shows
—4lf. It is said by some of the Jury that, at the con-
clusion of Mr. Carrington's speech, they were all con-
vinced of the insanity of Collins; but when they heard
v.:44ns himself, who made a long defence, after both his
Counsel had been heard, they were equally satisfied that
they ought not to pronounce him a lunatic. The old
1450 had a great idea of appearing smart at his trial, and
actually hail a new wooden leg made for the occasion,
the old one as well as the clothes he wore at the time of
assaulting his Majesty having been purchased by a
rrenel,
„ lady, who, for the sake of possessing these relics,
an'tladY gave Collins new clothes for old ones. It is well
worthy of remark, that the whole of the Jury state that
suppostal that by acquitting Collins of the intention
of killing his Majesty and finding him guilty of the intent
to •
maim and wound only, they would prevent his being
subject to capital punishment; and they also state that if
sthey had known that the verdict they
found could have
bad the effect of taking his life, they would rather than
that have acquitted him altogether. However, as there
seems no doubt of his Majesty's taking a merciful view of
the case, the intentions of the Jury will, in substance, be
carried into effect.—Morning Herald.

EXECUTION OF A LADY'S CATS. —on
Saturday week, a maiden lady, living at Walsiugham,
Norfolk, and long known for her deep attachment and
benevolence to the cat tribe, which dotage has for many
years " grown with her growth," was observed in thought-
ful, melancholy mood, and dressed in the sable weeds of a
Mourner, On inquiry it was found that a decree which
had lately gone forth against her favourite companions,
had that morning been put into execution; and, in spite
of the nine lives of the cat, 46 of them—all the lady's
't°ek—had " undergone the extreme penalty of the law,"
and were then lying skinless in a hole " by the wall,"
hdenied even a decent Christian burial. The benevolent
ey has for some time been allowed a pound a week by
_s brother, the chief of which has been spent in the
Maintenance of her tortoise-shells ; yea, so careful has
bbeen in keeping as large a stock as possible, and in
ling them unsparingly, that in doing so she is said to
se half starved herself. Her brother, finding that this
'n°ldinate attachment to these four-footed animals was
b 'eunaing daily more engrossing, and 4 that his sister was
4'4 unlikely to starve herself outright for the gratification
of this old-maidenish propensity, resolved on their destruc-
tion as above, and sent a man to fulfil his wishes. The
lady, however, will now have some consolation in visiting
her neighbour's cats, and carrying them their daily per-
tisn of meat and milk, as she had been accustomed to do
for
several y ars past, should not her life he endangered by
grief for the loss of her own tabbies. —Hull Packet.

BAILEY, who was to have been executed to-
-5Y for the murder of ELIZABETH MARTIN, was reprieved
b" Saturday. Since his condemnation, his conduct has
eo in keeping with his unhappy eituat'on—penitent for
3 former follies, which he admitted were great and fre-
quent--and resigned to the fate his country's laws had
4warded him. Whin the reprieve arrived his wife and
Ttoother were about to enter the cell, for the purpose of
aking the last melancholy farewell of its lonely tenant.
eir joy- on the receipt of the happy intelligence was great
the cause was unexpected. BAILEY himself did not exhi-
bit any extraordinary symptoms of unbounded gladness
when first told that he was not to be snatched from society
5o suddenly as he had long anticipated, but this is not to be
attributed to moroseness, or the absence of the common
ft•elings of humanity, for he is far from being void of een-
-sibility ; but the judicious manner in which the intelligence
`vll3 conveyed to him by the Governor, precluded the
tobsbllity of one of those scenes which were of such fre-
gognt occurrence on similar occasions. Mr. BRUTTON,
aware that too sudden a disclosure might cause a mental
tiwulsion that would, perhaps, save the prisoner from the
411C1Wil, to be killed, after the Irish fashion, by kind-
-1144, began by raising a feeble hope of clemency being
'tended to him : this was succeeded by doubts on the
jotof the informant, with respect to the sentence ever
i'log carried into execution ; and these again were fol-
-s Wed by a confidence, alnmst amounting to assurance,
that his life w0u1,4 be spared. The prisoner at first was
142o0ved, declaring his willingness to meet his fate as be-
',44le a Christian and a man, and persisted in his asseve-
rations of innocence of the crime for the supposed perpe-
IN.tion of which he had been condemned. By degrees he
i‘:l,4,ced more interest in tbe Governor's communication
4j"tlis apathy was succeeded by inquisitive anxiety ; the
I,:tlost torpid resignation with which he at first responded
1/4; a humane interrogatories of Mr. BRUTTON, gave way,
ktrltolpicion of the true nature of the interview became
iihNthened ; and when at length the full truth burst
t;,_°4 him, he appeared as one suddenly snatched from
annihilation. Staffordshire Gazette.