The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-10 00:00:00

THE WOOLWICH MURDER.

The execution of Peter Masterson, who was con-
victed at the last session of the Central Criminal
Court, before Mr. Justice Blackburn, has been fixed
by the Sheriff of Kent to take place on Thursday,
the 19th inst., at Maidstone. The prisoner, it will
be recollected, was a private in the Royal Artillery
stationed at Woolwich, and that he was taken into
custody by the picket for being drunk and dis-
orderly in the town, and brought to the guard-
room, where the deceased, who was a sergeant in
the same regiment, was engaged in the perform-
ance of entering the charges that were made against
the different soldiers who had been misconducting
themselves ; and upon his asking the prisoner his
name he made use of very bad language and refused
to tell him, and he was ordered to another part of
the guard-room appropriated to military offenders ;
here, he contrived to get possession of an iron bar
that was used as a poker, a very heavy and dange-
rous instrument, and then made his way stealthily
to the place where e sergeant was sitting, and
while in the act of stooping forward, writing, he
struck him a tremendous blow on the back
of the head, which fractured his skull,
and caused almost immediate death. The jury
recommended the prisoner to mercy on the ground
that he was in liquor at the time the offence was
committed ; but the evidence showed that the des-
perate act was committed with a good deal of de-
liberation, and the prisoner, who bears a very indif-
ferent character in the regiment, and who has been
repeatedly punished for various offences, was evi-
dently actuated by a feeling of malice towards the
deceased. It appearedthat upon a previous occasion
the latter had been assaulted by the prisoner, and
for this offence he had been sentenced to three
months imprisonment, and the prisoner had re-
peatedly threatened that he would commit some act
of violence towards him. The recommendation of
the jury has,it is understood, been forwarded to the
Home Secretary, and Mr. Justice Blackburn was
applied to for his opinion upon the case, and the
learned judge stated that he did not see any favour-
able circumstances in the case, or any that would
justify the clemency of the Crown in being extended,
to the prisoner, and the law was consequently left
to take its course. The prisoner, who is only 22
years old, is an Irishman, and a Roman Catholic,
and since he has been in Maidstone gaol, has been
visited constantly by Father Emanuel, a priest of
that persuasion. The prisoner• for a considerable
time appeared very hardened, and not to entertain
the least idea of the awful character of his crime,
or the dreadful sentence that awaited him, but on
being informed, within the last two days, that the
day was fixed for his execution, and that there was
no longer any hope for him in this world, he became
slightly affected, snd since then he appears to be
more sensible of his awful position. In the ordi-
nary course the execution of the prisoner would
have taken place on Thursday next, the 12th inst.,
but as that day is fixed for the review of several
regiments of the Kentish Volunteers, and will be
regarded as a sort of holiday, it was considered ad-
visable that an execution should not take place on
the same day ; and the High Sheriff, therefore, in
the exercise of his discretion, delayed the period for
a week.