The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-24 00:00:00

THE CONVICT TAWELL.

AYLESBURY, SATURDAY.—The unfortunate Tawell is
said to be somewhat more composed and resigned to his
fate to-day than he has hitherto been. The authorities
of the gaol are as close as possible in regard to him,
and it is therefore with much difficulty that any inform-
ation can be obtained. He continues to be supplied
with dinner from the White Hart in the same way as he
used to be previously to the trial. It is remarked by
some, that this indulgence to him is such as most pro-
bably would not have been granted to a poorer man if
he was placed in the same position ; at least, such has
never been the case before. As it is, however, near nine
years since any one has been executed at Aylesbury,
and then, perhaps, the party under sentence might not
have been enabled to pay for a dinner sent to him from
an inn in the town, it is just possible that this inference
may be, unjust. It is expected that his wife will pay him
another visit on Monday. She is in a dreadfully
depressed state, and seems even now to be
thoroughly impressed with a conviction of his innocence.
A petition has been got up in the town, to be
presented to the Secretary of State, praying that the
sentence may be transmuted to transportation for life.
The petition, however,goes more upon the general principle
of the impolicy of capital punishments than upon any
assumed probability of the verdict of the jury in Tawell's
case not being strictly in accordance with the truth.
The petition has been signed by about 120 persons ;
amongst these are the names of one Baptist minister (the
only clergyman who has signed it),' and the foreman of
thejury who found him gulty. In the town there ap-
pears to be a very general aversion to capital punish-
ments ; and many even who do not go so far as to say
that capital punishments ought in all cases to be abo-
lished, appear to think that executions ought not to be
public. It is said that on Friday next, when i; is
fully expected that the execution will take place, the
shops will be closed. The general impression as to
the guilt of the unhappy man appears to increase.
The more calmly all parties are enabled to think upon the
subject, the more fully do they seem convinced that
the verdict of the jury is a proper one. Within the last
few days a circumstance has come to light which would
hare been of material importance on the trial, and wh'.ch
now has the effect of corroborating the impression of his
guilt. It is stated that in the omnibus, in which it will
be recollected he travelled a short way after he had left
the deceased, Sarah Hart, an empty bottle was found,
having a label on it marked "Schecle's Prussic Acid."
This was found by the conductor, but some of Tawell's
friends not intelligence of the fact, and through their in-
fluence,'backed, perhaps, with "substantial reasons," it
was kept " dark" until the trial was over. It is supposed
that the tinfortunwe man must, in Lis confusion, have
dropped this in the omnibus.
Although the Quakers have expelled him from the
society, yet, with a strange inconsistency, many of their
body continue to visit him. Many religious tracts have
also been forwarded to him by them, which, it is said, he
reads with the greatest attention. The part of his con-
duct, since his conviction, which is considered to be the
most strange and unaccountable is the fact that he never
makes any allusion to the awful crime of which he has
been found guilty. Many, from this, are inclined to draw
conclusions unfavourable to him ; and it also tends to
strengthen the conjeettite that he will not make any con-
fession.