The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-24 00:00:00

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,ICE 4D, n STAMPED, 51),

EX kaTION AT -BRCO.IV'.
, • ,

The final s' mtence of -the law was -carried into
effect in frt )nt of the county gaol 'at Brecon,. at
eight o'clock : yesterday morning, upon :William
Williams,
:M was convicted It the Brecon
Assizes, in arch, for the 'wilful murder Of hiS
aunt on the 19 th of October, 1860. The culprit
had lived in: the service of an uncle, On
about seven nil les from the house where. his aurit.
resided at
,-,3F7awyd den Talgarth„aboa4
20 miles
from Herefo n 3. Williams slept at her,liouse on
the night of Ca e 18th October, and Seemed ongded
terms with hi 8 relative. He brought with him' a
gun, which Ire; ..usually Carried abont his uncld'a
farm for bird`.4.ll6eting. The next day,Tin- the fifter,
noon, his sist rr went into an adjacentfleld for some
hay, taking with her, a little boy, An illegitiniate
son of the an lit Williams. 'was at- this time in the.
fold-yardi art 1-his victim was in the house, 'sitting,
'in a highbac :ked chair by the fire; pickings wool.
Just as the ',sister was: returning,' she heard the
report of fires arcup, and running :forward met her
brother comic ttg out .of the house, who exclaimed,
"That his aui it had.shot herself."
Ou entering the
room.the bod 3 r of the murdered -weman was found
in the chair, b 3. a sitting posture, and the muzzle of
the gun had ;been placed so close to her that the
flame from tilt I powder had abSolutely set her dress
on fire. The tOugs, with which the gun had been
loaded, passed completely through'thebody of the
Unhappy woman, entering at her back, and passing
through the heartodt -of the body. When *taken
into custody, the,prisoner said,." The gun had gone
off by accide) at while he was passing through-the
door," but he `sitbSequeritlY told the supWitendent
-of pOlice and his wife, aqd also the chief `constable
Of the Counts r, that: he shot- the poor 'woman, his
'Words being,-' I did it ; I did it with all-my-heart to
etvasegabian_,of. nerpraperty_, 'had no home.,
y reme =bored that thA testiniony,given, by.
the sister, a yeenng Nyou.an more than 20 years of
age, exhibited, a lamentable degree of ignorance.
She was raft awar& of the nature eau oath,*and
her belief in; a future state avaamerely to the bzt ent
that perhaps 'there was .-one. Sh,o did, however,
believe in. the _existence of a God, and his power
to punish her if she did wrong.
,The moral charac-
ter of the murdie red woman was very much tainted.
Since the culprit's sentence; which was accompanied
by a recommendation to mercy, but which Mr. Jus-
tice :Byles warned him could hardly, be expected.to
avert his doom, the miserable youth (for he was only
19 years of awe), for the first time subsequent to the
. .
crime, appeared to. realise his awful situation, - He
has 'been-attended with the most sedulous earnest-
ncss by' the Rev. David Price, 13. D:, chaplain to
the county gaol, and his 'ministrations awakened,
the unhappy man to a sense of his, atrocious crime:
He has constantly prayed most fervently for pardon
of his sins, and was fully sensible that all hope for
him in world was gone. He has been visited
by his, relatives, the final parting with.whom was
one of the moat agonising description. He attended
Divine service in the chapel on Sunday, and heartily
joined in the responses. He rose at an early hour
this morning ,and requested to see the rev. chaplain,
who at once aitended him, and Continued with him
until the last. Upon the arrival of Mr. Vaybury;
the under-sheriff, shortly after half-past 7 o'c'.ock,
that gentleman, accompanied by Mr. Lazenby, the
governor of the gaol, proceeded to the cell, and in-
formed the wretched man that the hour was come
when. he must meet his fate. His fortitude quite
forsook him, and ho burst into a bitter and pas-
sionate flood of tears, which the exhortations of the
Rev. Mr; Price could not allay. The process of
pinioning having been gone through with much
difficulty, theculprit rallied a little, and shook hands
affectionately with the governor, thanking him for
his 'great kindness, and also for that' Of the officers
of the prison.: He acknowledged the justice of his
sentence, but expressed himself in penitence and
hope of a belief that'll° would. receive pardon for his
crime. The procession having arrived at the drop,
the fatal knot was quickly adjusted, and while most
earnestly joining in the Burial Service, as read by
the chaplain, the bolt was:withdrawn, and after a
momentary struggle the wretched youth ceased to.
exist: .

, THE SUSPECTED MURDER AND
SUICIDE AT CARLISLE.
-.-
CARLISLE, Anal, 22.
,The inquest on the bodies of William Horsley,
aged 23, and his mother-in-law, Jane Davidson,
aged 49, who died at Carlisle on Friday, the 12th
inst., under the extraordinary circumstances already
reported, was resumed to-day before Mr. Carrick,
the county coroner, and a respectable jury.
The first witness examined was Margaret Robin-
son, a married daughter of the deceased woman,
who had been an inmate of the house on the night
of the suspected murder. Mrs. Davidson, she said,
had kept the King of Prussia Inn at Penrith °afore
she came to Carlisle at Candlemas last, and William
Horsley boarded there kith his wife, till she died,
as was said, of bronchitis. Horsley subsequently
came to a draper's shop in Carlisle, and went over
to Penrith occasionally to visit his mother-in-law,
who came to Carlisle to the Pack-horse Inn at
Candlemas. After that Horsley visited the house
almost nightly. Witness denied that she knew of
any improper intimacy existing between Horsley
and his mother-in-law, but said that she thought a
great deal more of him than of any of her own
children. Horsley went to the Pack-horse on
Thursday night, the 11th inst. He was quite sober,
and Mrs. Davidson was quite sober when the other
inmates retired to rest, leaving them together in
the kitchen. Next morning Horsley was found
dead in the kitchen; her mother, Mrs. Davidson,
Horsley's mother-in-law, was seized with great
sickness, and did not express any surprise at
being so ill. There was no cup or drinking ves-
sel in her bedroom or in the bar which could
have contained poison. During the night witness
had heard her mother come upstairs into the room
in which she (witness) slept with her husband and
rummage in the drawers. She asked her what she
wanted, and her mother replied, that she was look-
ing for a paper. Whether she returned downstairs
or went to her room after she had searched the
drawers, one of which she unlocked, witness could
not say. On Friday afternoon while the jury were
viewing the body of Horsley his mother-in-law
died.
Wm. Whitehead, an upholsterer, who had at one
time lodged at the house of. Mrs. Davidson, when
she kept the King of Prussia Inn, but who after-
wards left, gave the following extraordinary evi-
dence :—I never went near Mrs. Davidson after that
till she was going to leave. She sent for me, and
when I went she said unto me, " Whitehead,
we have got a great deal of rats here." I said,
" Have you?" She said, " Yes ; we are nearly wor-
ried with rats," and she said she would give any-
thing to " cure" them. She said, " Can you tell me
what colour strychnine is ?" I said, "No." She
said, ".Do you think I could easily got to know ?"
I said,," Yes; that will easily be done." I asked a
young man if he knew what colour it was. He
said, " Yes, it is white; it is just like flour." Next
day I went for some tobacco and told her. When
I had told her some one came into the shop and I
went to my work. She sent for me next day, and
when I went she started talking about strychnine.
She gave me ls. I had been off work for some time,
and she thought I could not have much. She talked
on a little bit, and said, "Do you think you could get
me is. worth of strychnine ?" I said, " What
for ?" She said, "I want these rats cured." I
said, " You can cure them without strychnine." She
said, " Well, you like revenge yourself, don't you ?"
" Yes," I said, " but there are many ways of having
revenge." She said, " That is mine. I said,
" What is it ?". She did not exactly say at first, and
I said, " If you want revenge you should get it as I
get it ; you should lay wait till you get it without
anything of that kind.' She said, " Will you swear
you will not mention it to any one ?" I said I would
not repeat it. She said, " Well, I must toll you the
truth ; it is for Horsley." That was before he came
to Carlisle. I said to her, " Why do you want it
for him ?" She said he had behaved very badly to
her. I said, "In what way 9" She -saidha-h
she
had
bought him all his furniture that ver he w.
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ae
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Ht to hhoauds ekt
aeke
epni nigt , ahnn seh;ea eculdnodehgeet nsaoidth is nh ge
had done many things for him besides which she
did not wish to mention at that time, but she would
tell me some time. I asked her, and said she might
as well tell me then. I said, "Ifit is for him, Mrs.
Davidson, I would advise you to have nothing to
do with it. You will get yourself into a ' hobble'
over it." And then she said, " Never mind ; if you
will only get it for me you need never mind." She
said she would do as much for me some time when
she had the power. (Much laughter.) She did
not mean anything of that kind ; she meant she
would give me some money.
A Juror—Perhaps she would do it to keep you
from tellin it again.
Witness g c ontinued—l said, "Well, I will see."
My blood ran cold, and I did not know what
to say to her. I shut the door and' went across
home. There was a )oung man who lodged at the
same place, and I told him. I said she had given
me a Shilling• He said, " Come, lqt us spend the,