The Sun.
London, England, 1828-03-26 00:00:00

EXECUTIO.-(THIS DAY.)

rln:liotaurineiaissnsgtiheheodmyraiencsgkless multitude assembled at New-
saghoonrtieesr,ofagA,4lrsaondef).•
for passing
:SoarhtTgeoerhtdtoi:notes ; and Samuel Weedon, aged 26, for a burglary
at Edgware. A respite was received at a late hour last
night for George Wyeth, who was included in the death
warrant, by which his execution was delayed till Friday.
He did not know that fact till this morning, when the dis-
closure shocked his feelings perhaps snore than the ap-
proach of death. He appeared to entertain little hope of
a final reprieve. The Rev. Mr. Cotton and Mr. Baker
attended the unhappy beings on the eve of their violent end,
and while administering religious consolation the behaviour
of the culprits was devout and respectful. Shorter had led a
life of fraud, a crime for which his wife was transported
many years ago. Few men have had so many charges
brought against them on their trial (no less than 12) for
passing forged notes, and few have so long escaped the
certain termination of a life of crime. lie was convicted
on the clearest evidence ; but still he persisted in declaring,
both on his trial and condemnation, that he had received
the notes he had passed in the regular course of his buai-
ness. Such a fact might have been possible, but it was
net true. On the day of his knowledge that he was
suffer, he sent a letter to Mr. Baker, curtaining a list of
persons from whom he had received large sums of
(ll
money, and requesting a sight of the notes on which
he had been convicted, as they might, he said, bear in-
dorsements wthhieemh
.would bring to nilt:unitnoarty,
humanely
frogs
complied w•hom
/icerse receivedwe
with, the persons were visited and the notes examirsd, but
they bore no signature besides his own, and all corre-
sponded with the two found in his great coat pocket.
Weedou was well known about Finchley. He was
tried for a daring burglary, in the house of Mr. Toottel,
of Edgeware, and convicted, partly on the evidence of an
accomplice.
Early this morning the unfortunate men received the
sacrament, and prepared for their awful doom.
Shorter was the first brought into the press-room. He
seemed terrified to childishness ; and while his hands were
being bound, he shifted them, and complained of the tight-
ness of the cord. The awful knowledge that he was
breathing his last minutes, evinced itself in a sort of petu-
lent restlessness, and the death-stamp in his face pro-
claimed his dissolution not far distant, even if he bad
escaped the halter ; he was placed on the seat. Samuel
Weedon then entered; his manly, but devoted appearance,
formed a strange contrast to that of his fellow-sufferer,
and if ever culprit died in firmness and in penitence, it
was this man ; he advanced erect, and offered his hands
to be bound, with that cool, yet devoted readiness,
which nature rarely furnishes in the hour of death.
He prayed most fervently as the death-bell struck on his
ear; and the sad procession moved to the last scene, and
the Burial Service echoed through the gloomy vaults.
While Shorter was adjusting on the drop, Weedon
prayed loudly ; he smiled in penitent fortitude, and
pronounced these words " God bless the Judge
and the Jury who tried me—God bless Mr. Wont-
ner, Mr. Baker, and my King—these are the words
I shall die with." They were so. He mounted
the scaffold undaunted, as be came to it, and died with a
firmness that would have honoured his memory in any
other than a culprit's end. No one could hear his last ex-
pressions unmoved, and perhaps no criminal ever carried
to his grave the sympathy of those who saw him die in a
greater degree than Weedon.
The crowd was small compared to that of other execu-
tions, and contained the female who has visited Shorter in
prison, and with whom he cohabited.
George Wyeth, the respited convict, attended the pro-
cession, at his own request, and though witnessing the ce-
rekrony which he may go through on Friday, he did not
seem greatly affected.