Star.
London, England, 1822-12-25 00:00:00

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EXECUTION. .
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*On. dartfie vastest's* ef .the law rtes easkinil into
effect at. Pennell-den-1101th, near.. bisitivionuf'sisposs
Jan 'Sriqthp th 0 .41-011#1101. PAitittfiet; cs'gtriieti4
the last liast:Amiasit,. of rnarder, auti. *loose In
appearedio the Star of gatufday.
Ile reeelita the g.tertnient jestbefOre he iift•the
gaol, and appeatedyery penitent sad resigned at the
place of execution. He *six** for a short tittle to five
people, saying, ‘; that women sveke the cause'nf tits
clownfall." Ile prayed aloud, and very fervently unt4
the drop' fell, taying; s, Lorin have 'betty :uphit *se!
ICH HIST have mercy opoli Hit!" The drop fell *hoot
12 o'clock.—After banging the usual tithe, the.bo.iy
was taken away to GiepnWiCh to Beide public vie v
for one day, and, artei4ardi to he disietted and ans.
tomized in Gieefiviict Hospital:
About a fortnight 'ti, the prisoneried for *Gen-
l!tleman of Maidstbite Who, attending The 'summer:.
lieceived from'the prisoner a vehement injttnctinn tt.
stake public what he tolled a history Of ins life. 11 e
urpti9e of the Gentleman may be conceived, wise:.
;on examining the paper, he discovered it to be a enr,
icise narrative of the place of the prisoner's birth—Ai;
;propensities—and, finally, his motives for commit-
ting the murder, described in dogrel verse. Al-
'though the production.of an illiterate MAD, it is truly
astonishing that the mind of a man nearly foursccae
years could, by any pp:sibility, under circumstance;
'so peculiarly awful, for a moment_ be so ahstractect
from his situation as to admit of so extraordinai-s a
pruduction. Thelevity. of the concluding lines is not
the least striking part of this extraordinary effusuii.
The original, which is in the hands of fir. AGAR,
has been followed literatim et verbatim:
Lines dictated by John Smith, aged 78 years, who was eepeve-a
on Pennenden heath, on Monday, Decern!wr '.15, IV'2, tar
the Wilful Murder of Catherine Smith; at tirtenwich, on the
ith of October last.
In the County of Wicklow I was born'il
but now in Maidstone die in scorn
I once was counted a roving blade
but to my misfortune had no trade
women was always my downfall
but still I liked and loved them aft
a hundred I have had in my time
when I was young and in my prime
women was always nay delight
but when I got old they did me slight
a woman from London to me came
she said with You I would fain remain
if you will be constant ill be tt ue
I never want no Man but You—
and on her own Bible a Oath did take
that she never would Me forsake
and during the time that I had life
she would always prove a loving Wife
and by titzt Means we did agree
to live together she and Me—
but soon her vows and Oath did break
and to another Man did take
'Which she fetch'd home with her to lay
and that proved her own destiny
Bo as Jack Smith lay on his bed
this notion strongly run in his Ilead
then lie got up with that intent
to find her out was fully bent
swearing if he found out her Oath she'd broke
be stick a knife into her throat
then to the Cricketers he did go
to see if he could find it out or no
not tong been there before she come in
with this saute fellow to fetch sonic Gin
then with A Knife himself brought in
immediately atab'd her under the Chin
and in five minutes she was no more
but thene laid in her purple gore
Now to conclude and end my song
they are both dead slizd and gone
they are both gone I do declare
gone they are but GOD knows where—