The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-05 00:00:00

THE CASE OF DR. SMETHURST.

The greatest anxiety appears to exist in the
public mind us to the ultimate fate ofDr. Smethurst,
but, of course, no determination has yet been come
to upon the subject, and probably will not be 14r a
considerable time, all that is at present known
being that, the execution of the capital sentehee
having been respited during her Majesty's plea-
sure, the life of the culprit will undoubtedly be
spared, and his fate is entirely in the hands of the
Home Secretary, or rather of the advisers of the
Crown in these matters.

It would seem that the reprieve was quite unex-
pected by the gaol authorities, and that the prisoner
himself, although he still continued to exhibit a
good deal of that confident demeanour that he has
shown throughout the entire proceedings, evidently
had some misgivings as to the result. It was ex-
pected by himself and those who have taken an ac-
tive part in the proceedings to obtain a respite that
if a reprieve was granted it would not be delayed
beyond the middle of the week; and when that pe-
riod passed over, and Thursday and Friday arrived
and no communication was received from the Go-
vernment, the hopes of the prisoner and his friends
became fainter, and it was the general impression
up to the afternoon of Friday that the sentence
would be carried out. So strong was this impres-
sion upon the minds of the officers of the prison
that on Friday morning-orders were given that the
scaffold and the drop and all the apparatus con-
nected with the gallows should be carefully exa-
mined to see that it was in proper order to perform
its dreadful task. It has not been used for several
years, and the whole of the framework is kept iii
the entrance-lodge of the gaol, and, having lain by
so long, it was thought that possibly some of the
joints might not be in working order, and there-
fore the precaution was taken to have it examined,
and this was done, and a report was made to Mr.
Keene, the governor of the gaol, that the scaffold
would be ready if required, and all the different
portions of the erection were laid ready to be put
up on Tuesday morning.
During the early part of the week Dr. Smethurst
appeared in extraordinary spirits. It has already
been stated that he is watched day and night by
two warders of the prison, who take it by turns to
perform this duty. He converses with these men in
the most friendly manner, and has frequently joked
upon different subjects. With the chaplain, the
surgeon, and every official connected with the pri-
son he has always appeared most anxious to con-
verse upon the subject* of his alleged crime, arguing
with great apparent earnestness and sincerity upon
the folly of it being supposed that he should com-
mit such a dreadful murder for the sake of obtain-
ing a few hundred pounds, when he had an ample
dsufficiencyw foron would
l h
have
avies
lni
nt wants, ayhgdi
vbeens ihdeims
twhhei
mc ho,
nt
eh
ye
if he had asked her to do so. He has all along ap-
peared in extraordinary spirits, and it was not until
the week wore away and the day fixed for the
he might make it known
exe-
cution of the sentence became nearer and nearer
thatT hhe i
psntraheepvaas appearance emollahnrri
oa.s
trnj
islceoeaesrmd
ooai
pnnt
paogleytrrhe.ltesapidemeanouremniheteaepGwfi a
joaoronulwlaodetfrtbetehnaeast
considerablyeapnan rlteilest
oaholnan-
tered, and then only to a trifling extent.
lFdflonger remained
gd.iea impression
ee nr tw oa fr anyd
sthat,
ll
t
to the prisoner, and he left the prison under the
from the Home-office,
aefvthionrttlhyehowever, a messenger ar-
rived, bearing the reprieve, which was addressed to
the governor, and Mr.Ke
ene immediately proceeded
to the prisoner's cell and communicated to him the
welcome intelligence, at the same time explaining
to him that it was not a respite for any particular
period, which would still render his ultimate fate
uncertain, but that the effect of a reprieve during
her Majesty's pleasure was that his life would cer-
tainly be spared. Dr. Smethurst did not betray so
much emotion as might have been expected under
the circumstances, but he shook hands with the go-
vernor,and in an earnest manner asserted his entire
innocence of the crime for which he was condemned
to die, and added, " What a dreadful thing it would
have been to die an ignominious death for a crime
I that was never committed !"
There is very little doubt that the friends of the
prisoner will exert themselves to procure a total re-
mission of punishment, on the ground that as the
Government, by refusing to allow the capital sen-
tence to be carried out, admit that there are doubts
of his guilt, the prisoner ought to have the benefit
of those doubts, and be altogether discharged from
punishment. omniunication
arriving

DOG KILLED BY AN ADDER.—On Wednesday
last a little terrier dog belonging to Neil Matheson, fisher,
Ellianerrad, Island of Mull, was stung by an adder, whereby r
it received so much injury that it died in about six hour
although every means were tried to save it.—Glagif
Herald.