The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-29 00:00:00

DR. SMETHU.RST.

•
A rumour was very current on Saturday that the
Home Secretary had sent a respite for the prisoner,
but it had no foundation, and at present the execu-
tion is fixed for Tuesday, the 6th of September. It
is true that the solicitor for the prisoner, Mr. Hum-
phreys, has made an urgent solicitation to the Se-
cretary of State to delay the carrying out of the
sentence, and the culprit himself has also addressed
several very long communications to the Home-
office, in which he gives a history of the connexion
between himself and the deceased lady and most
strenuously asserts his innocence ; but the whole
matter is still under consideration, and it is not
likely that any decision will be come to until the
middle of the week.

The prisoner still continues to exhibit the same
calm and almost indifferent demeanour that cha-
racterised him throughout the whole of the painful
proceedings, and he has never ceased protesting his
innocence of the crime of which he has been con-
victed.
On Wednesday, after the day had been
formally fixed for the execution, it was deemed
prudent by the gaol authorities that the clothes he
had worn down to that time, and which were the
same he had on at the trial, should be taken away,
and he was dressed in the prison garb. This was
done as a matter of precaution, as it was thought
he might have some deadly ingredient concealed.
about his own garments. Nothing of this descrip-
tion, however, was discovered, and Dr. Smethurst
submitted to the change of garments without any
complaint, and the only observation he made was
to the effect that if he went to Madame Tussaud's
in that dress he should look " a complete Guy." The
Rev. Mr. Sessop, the chaplain of Horsemonger-
lane Gaol, communicated to the prisoner the fact
that the sentence was to be carried out on the day
above-named, and he heard the communication
without exhibiting any emotion, but merely ex-
claimed, "If the sentence is carried out, I am a
murdered man."

It has been stated above that during the
week Dr, Smethurst has been engaged in writ-
ing a long communication to the Home Secre-
tary upon the subject of his alleged offence. In
this statement he again asserts his entire inno-

cence, and declares that the deceased died from
natural causes. He also particularly observes upon
the absence of any motive for his committing such
a dreadful crime, and states that the deceased had
so much affection for him that she would at any
time have called in the mortgage and given him
the money if he had asked her to do so, and he also
urges that the deceased lady had a contingent inte-
rest in a great deal of other property, so that his
interest would have been much stronger in her life
than in her death. He also endeavours to show
that the circumstance of his attending upon the de-
ceased in the manner he did, supplying her with
all her food and medicine, and not allowing any
one else to attend upon her—all which facts were
so strongly urged against him in support of the
charge—were in reality merely the result of his
affection-for the deceased, and he says that during
the illness of his wife, the real Mrs. Smethurst, he
always used to wait upon her in the same manner.
The prisoner also states with regard to his having
taken the soup that was brought by Miss Louisa
Bankes a day or two before her death, and which '
she represented he took out of the bedroom, and
was heard to stir on the landing, that all he did
was to take it to the window to cool it, as he did
everything else that was taken by the deceased, the
doctors who were in attendance upon her directing
that she should have everything cold. It will be
remembered that according to the evidence of Miss
Louisa Bankes, the deceased's sister, the moment
she tasted the soup the deceased vomited, and the
inference was that the prisoner left the room for
the purpose of putting some noxious ingredient into
it ; but he asserts most solemnly that this was not
the case, and accounts for his conduct in the manner
above stated. It is rather a remarkable circum-
stance that the prisoner does not appear to have
given any explanation of the circumstances under
which the deceased lady consented to go through
the ceremony of marriage with him, when she
must have been aware that, at all events, he
was living with another woman who passed as
Mrs. Smethurst, and was always regarded as his
wife, and that this had been the state of things
for nearly two years. There is very little doubt,
however, that when the first unhappy inti-
macy took place between the deceased lady and
the prisoner he asserted he was not married, and
that it was under the impression that this was a
correct statement of the nature of the connexion
that existed between them that the deceased con-
sented to go and reside with the prisoner, and it
was at her urgent solicitation alone that he con-
sented to the marriage taking place at Battersea
Church under the circumstances elicited at the trial.
If this should really have been the case, it is clear
that the prisoner might at any moment have been
taken into custody for bigamy, and that it would
have been impossible for him to have gone back to
live with his own wife while the deceased was in
existence.
Dr. Smethurst passes a considerable part of the
morning with the chaplain, and appears to exhibit
a good deal of religious feeling. He expressed a
desire not to attend the ordinary chapel service, as
he did not wish to be the subject of the curiosity of
the other prisoßers, and his request was at once
complied with.