Star.
London, England, 1824-12-21 00:00:00

EXECUTION AT MAIDSTONE'.

Yesterday, at noon, at the accustomed place of ere.-
cution on Pettenden Heath, the awful sentence of the
law was carried int 3 effect on the body of Thomas
Coombs, who, at the late Kent Assizes, was found guilty
of the murder of Thomas Morgan, at Beckenham.
Fs om the first moment the prisoner entered the County
Jail, the magnitude of the offence imputed to him, and
the probability of his suffering the heaviest penalty the
law knows of, pointed him out as an object of the more
peculiar notice of the worthy Chaplain, the Rev. Mr.
Winter, who throughout has paid the utmost attention
to him. These have been but badly received; the pri-
soner for the most part displayed a sullen indifference,
and when questioned as to his participation in the mut.
der of which he has been convicted, he on most occa-
sions became violent, declaring that he had confessed
the extent of his sins to Auttours GOD in secret, and
that he was not disposed to repeat his confessions in
public. Since his conviction he has slept but little, and
on the last night of his existence, he dozed only for an
hour. Early on the moaning of yesterday he was vi-
sited by the Rev. Chaplain, -who endeavoured to bring
him to a suitable state of mind for the reception of the
Holy Sacrament, and most particularly pointed out to
him the necessity of making a candid avowal of his
guilt or innocence in respect to the offence of which he
had been found guilty. He promptly answered that he
was innocent kapd he was thee. asked, if that were the
case, why he did not attempr to establish it at the trial ?
He replieJ, t' 'hat would be the use, when it was pre-
determined that I should be found guilty ? It was the re-
ward of 1001. that did for me." The strong circum-
stantial evidence ebtained from the dove-tailing of the
tobacco•paper, was Ehen pointed out to him, and he an-
swered, " What of that ? It was easy to tear a tobacco-
paper, and put part of it into the gun, and then swear
that they found it so. A htiadred pounds will tempt
men to many dirty acts." Several other parts of the
testimony were pointed out to him, and his reply to
each was, " the 1001. reward did for me." He was
asked why he did not account for the possession of the
fruit he had sold? To this inquiry he made no answer;
and a little before eleven o'clock he was conducted into
the Chapel, and the solemn ceremony of the adminis-'
tration of the Sacrament was performed, in the course
of which he was asked by the Rev. Chaplain, whether
he was innocent of the charge alleged against him ? To
this inquiry he returned no answer, and it was repeated,
but he still remained silent. He was then asked, whe-
ther he was guilty of the offence imputed to him? To
which lie answered, " Don't disturb my mind by in-
quiries ; I wish to have nothing to say to the question
altogether. Do you think I would tell a lie on the
subject ? What ! tell a lie under the circumstances of
my present case? No, never." Under all the pecu-
liarities of the case, the Sacrament was at last adminis-
tered to him, and was received without an avowal of
guilt or innocence ; but the manner of the convict left
an impression that he was in his own mind assured of
the justiceof his sentence, and that he was only withheld
from acknowledging his guilt, by d fear of what might
be said of him after his death.
The culprit was a Bristol man, and served his time
to a sallow-chandler. About ten years ago he was
married, but had not seen his wife for several years.

Atlvices are said to have been received fiom St. Pe-
tei sbutgh, which state, that the general number of per-
sons who perished dining the late inundations in that
city, and all the neighbouring places was 30,000.
A letter from Halifax, dated the 19th of last month,
says—" Admiral LAKE is fast recovering from the
effects of a broken arm, and will sail for Bermuda in the
JUPITER in about a fortnight. The ships lying here in
addition to the flag-ship, are the SAMARANG, MENAI,
DOTTEREL, SAPPIIIO, and Icartva r the latter arrived
here yesterday, and will sail in a few days for Barba-
does and Jamaica. The SAPPIIO will sail for Bermuda
to-morrow; that island is now wholly garrisoned by
Royal Marines, and the 60th Regiment has proceeded
to the West Inslie,."

The Minister and Churchwardens of the parish of
Rotherhithe called a Public Meeting yesterday (Decem-
ber 20) ; and laudably commenced a parochial subscrip•
tion for the relief of the indigent Spanish and Italian
Officers now suffeting in the metropolis.