The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-20 00:00:00

A DEATH SCENE IN MISSISSIPL

The following from the Examiner gives an ac-
count of the excution of Jefferson Gray, for
shooting Robert Abernathy, in Pontotoc county,
Mississipi. With a general hurrah and shouting
the crowd marched their victim off imintdiately to
the woods. About half a mile from the town of
Red Land they halted at a lnckory tree at the road-
side, del a rope round the prisouer'3 neck, and
threw tin other eud of the rope over a limb of the
into. They then gave him a few minutes to say
.his prayers and speak what he had to say. He first
called for a dank of water, which being given to
he said, "they had one end of the rope around his
neck and the other over the limb, but as there was
a God in heaven and a hell b low he was innocent
of the charge against him." Some one then cried
out, "Hang him up ; he is thtermined to die
with a lie in his mouth." A motion was made
to swing him up, when he cried t, hold on,
and ho would confess and tea the whole truth. A
little time was given him. Ho then confessed that
ho shot Abernathy, that some difficulty had oc-.
curred between Abernathy, Jones, and himself ;
that he went to Abernathy in the field, and at-
tacked him en the subject. Abernathy having no
(mu acknowlelged himself in Gray's pJwer, turned
his back to him to walk off, when he shot him in

the back. After he had fired the gun Abornaly
exclaimed, " You have killed me, Glay, but I am
ping to Heaven." He further stated that "no
. _

one else was implicated in the murder but himself ;
that Ills wife was a good woman, and he hoped she
would Le taken care of ; that Abernathy wa , a good
man, and he believed was gone to Heaven ; as for
himself ho could see the flames of hell blazing
under his feet like dry broom sage." He then
prayed awhile, and called for some ono to pray
for him. Whereupon Major Steele, by request
of the crunpany, prayed a very solemn and fer-
vent prayer for the spiritual welfare of the pri-
soner, and for the sanction of Heaven upon
their proceedings—the inostjreipectful order and
silence being observed by the crowd during the
prayer. Some other remarks were then made by
the prisoner, mingled with prayers, &c. He then
called up the brothers present of the man lie had
murdered, and desired to shake hands and bid them
farewwll. They all, being three or four, we believe,
came up and gave him their hands. Here or
during the intervals of these proceedings; a c_mtri-
butiou was made up by the company present, of
about two hundred dollars, for the benefit of the
prisoner's wife and child, who were about to be
left a widow and orphan. After which the pf.-
eoner was mounted upon a horse, a handkerchief
tied over his eyes, made to stand on his feet upon
the horse, the rope tightened over the limb, the
horse led out from under, and the unfortunate
victim of the terrible vengeance of an outraged
community left to swing and quiver between
Heaven and earth, as if unfit for either.

THE LAST SAVED FROM THE CENTRAL

AMERICA.

....---....-,....-.---

After a lapse of 16 days since the first party of
those saved from the Central America were landed
at Norfolk from the gallant little brig Marine, and
when every hope of s, eiug any more of the unfor-
tunate passengers and crew of the lost steamer had
been almost extinguished, three more have been
turned to their home-. After enduring the most
t-rrible sufferings on the open sea for nine days—
they were without food or water—drenched with
the waves, exhaUsted from exposure, and reducEd
to skeletons from starvation, they were mercifully
snatched from de th in the darkest hour of despair.
The account of their agony is harrowing. One of
them, Mr. Tice, the second engineer, was driftint,
on a plank for 72 hours, when, espying one of thep
damage.' litehoats, he fortunately succeeded in
re telling her, and soon after fell in with the other
two, Grant and Dawson, clinging to the hurricane
dock of the steamer, and took them off. Thee is a
sad episode iu the story of these two men. It ap
pears that at one time there were 12 iu all on the
hurricane (link, of whom 10 perish° I miserably.
flora exposure and starvation—a slow, lingering,
and painful dca'h. N hile drifting about at the
mercy of the waves they saw several others cling-
ing to portions of the wreck, but were unable to
- aid them ; and, as there is no ace: nut of any of
them having been taken off by any other vessel, the
' painful conclusion is forced upon us that they are.
lost—that we shall never hear more of the brave
Herndon and the hundreds of unfortunates who
went down with him on the deck of the Central
America. It is a remarkable fact that the men last
rescued had drifted on their frai. support nearly 600
miles from the spot where the steamer sunk, before
they were picked up—a dreary voyage, the terrors
of which, with a protracted and agonising
death staring them in the face, no one but them-
selves cau realise. There are few instances, if any,
on record of men enduring so much from the disaster
of shipwreck, yet coming so bravely through it.
Though there is little cause for hope that any more
will be have been saved, still there is a bare pos-
sibility that some of those seen clinging to the ear-
taiu's cabin or the wheel house may have been
picked up by some vessel not yet heard from. We
sincerely trust, though we hardly dare hope, that .t
may be so.—New York. Herald.
•

i
THE SIAMESE AMBASSADORS.—We learn horn M dta
that the pissengers on board her Mjesty's despatch
steamer Caradoc, which arrived at Malta on the Bth
nit., were the threeSiameao Ambassadors,—Phgcr
Montri Surly
~,Tegsi, Cnamum Sulbed. uChaity, and Chu:
mun A- Bidacks—accompanied by a numerou-
lix
;to Upon their arrival they were saluted by her Ms.
jetist-y"a ship Hibernia and afLerwartle by Fort St. Angelo
They were received at the palace by his Excellency the
Governor, Sir Wm. R-id, and Rear-Admiral Sir M.
Stopford, with their respective staff,. Their Excellencies
took up their abode at the Imperial Hotel, much, it is
said, to their dissatisfaction, as they expected they
would have been guests, according to the custom of their
country, of the governor. In the evening, attended by
Commander ()layering, R.N., of the Caradoc, they were
present in the Governor's box at the opera, where the
richness and novelty of their costume attracted much
attention, and on the foillwing morning Lieut.-General
S'r J. Pennefather had the troops out in review order
on the Fioriana parade ground, in honour of their arri-
val. Their Excellencies were to leave Malta by the
Caradoo for England direction the 10th or 11th. •