The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-10 00:00:00

WSPAPER

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strength left to enable her to
Cuthbert's house. She told her m s•
happened to her, a surgeon was pre atB
tendance, and every care was taken of the unhappy
girl, but the character. of the wound in her throat
was so serious that she gradually sank, and died- in
a few days afterwards. The murderer was appre-
hended within a feW hours of the commission of
this horrid crime. He was wandering about -his
master's fields at Gateford, and was in an excited
state. His throat was partially cut, his shirt was
bloody, and his coat sleeves appeared to have
been recently washed. He said that he had
inflicted' the wound on his throat, and ac-
knowledged that he had also cut the throat of
the deceased. When before the coroner the murderer
trumped up a long and incredible story, the pur-
porl of which was that a scuffle ensued between
him and his sweetheart, both of whom struggled to
gain peSsession of the knife. During the conflict
the yourig woman's throat was accidentally cut,
and then she stabbed him in the throat with tho
knife and ran "away, leaving him lying upon the
ground. - The:dying declaration of the murdered girl
entirely denied this statement, her account of the
fearful scene being that Whitworth accused her of
keeping company with another man, and being un-
able to. prevail upon her to take poison, he seized
hold of her, threw her on the ground, put his knee
upon, and with a knife cut her throat. Aft.T his
condemnation the murderer became penitent,
acknowledged his guilt, and said that he nn de the
first attack upon his sweetheart, being impelled
thereto- by what he afterwards discovered was.an
unfounded jealousy. Under the constant and zea'ous '
religious instructions of the Rev. J. E. M. Yon* 7 ,
temporary chaplain at the Castle, and the Rev. J.
Parkes,aWesleyan Methodist minister,the murderer
became very penitent, acknowledged the justice of
his sentence, and that the jury, with the evidence
they-had before them, could not have brought in
any 'other verdict than one of guilty. His medita-
tions in prison after his trial were not distracted
by the visits of any relatives, the only one who
,visited him being his brother-in-law, a few days
.after he had received his.' sentence. • No„petitions
'were presented to the' Home Secretary 'or other
in-leans adopted fb get a mitigation of the punish-
ment ; but many persons expressed a strong sym-
pathy for the convict, the more so as the man Atkin-
son, for the murder of his sweetheart at Darley,
under somewhat similar- circumstances to those for
which Whitworth was sentenced to death, had been
acquitted at the same time on the ground of insa-
nity. The unfortunate man spent the greater part
"of Friday night in devotional exercises, and partook
of the Holy Communion at an early hour on Satur-
day morning, after which up to the final act, at 12
o'clock at noon; he displayed great fortitude, and
more than once expressed his belief that'he kould
experience a glorious immortality. From 4,000 to
5,000 persons were assembled to witness the execu-
tion, and they behaved in a very orderly manner,
with the exception of some few, who called out
" Shame ! Shame ! bring out Atkinson." A man
named Askern, living near Rotherham, was the
executioner, as he was also ,in the case of the last
two or three persons who have been hanged at York.
About two minutes after the drop fell the struggles
of the unfortunate man ceased, and all was ever.
The spectators soon after began to disperse, and at
1 o'clock the body of the murderer was cut down
and interred within the precincts of the Castle.

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