The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-04-07 00:00:00

ray Guilty of wilful murder, and Costello of aiding and

abetting.
His Lordship did not immediately pass sentence, as another
case was in progress. When the trial was concluded, the
JUDGE ordered the prisoner to he placed at the bar. Murray
is a tall, strongly-built man ; Costello is rather of low
stature, but broad-shouldered. They both advanced to the
bar without much appearance of trepidation, but when the
Judge put on the black cap, which he did the moment they
had come to a stand, a marked change was visible in both
their countenances and demeanour. Murray, who was in-
dicted as the principal, burst into tears, while Costello trem-
bled and turned pale, and his face was convulsed with pain-
ful emotion. As his Lordship proceeded with his address,
which at the first sentence indicated that he was about to
doom the prisoners to the scaffold, Murray's suffering appeared
to increase considerably, till, at one point, he sank, in a
state of momentary insensibility, into the arms of the ai-
-1 cers. The Judge paused, and the unfortunate prisoner ral-
lied, and was more composed, or rather, he was in a state of
stupefaction during the remainder of the speech. Costello,
on the contrary, was comparatively firm during the delivery
of the first portion of the oration which preceded his doom,
but at length, he also seemed to sink beneath the agony of his
feelings. lie trembled violently, hid his face in his hands,
and sobbed convulsively. When the concluding awful words
uttered, he looked a living picture of despair. His limbs re-
fused to support him, and he was assisted, or more properly
carried from the bar. Murray walked away slowly between
two officers, and he appeared in a state of dream-like bewil-
derment, completely unconscious of what was passing around

him. -
His Lonnsnir, in passing sentence, addressing each of the
prisoners by name, said, they had now to receive the most
awful sentence which the law could pass, a jury of their coun-
try having, after long and patient deliberation, found them
guilty of the crime of wilful murder. It was a great satis-
faction to him, that both prisoners had been defended with
great zeal and ability, and that the counsel, in putting the
case to the jury, had taken care that nothing but the facts
delivered in evidence should have any weight. The jury
were the judges- of those facts, and when it was considered
how reluctant they must be to entertain proofs a hick doomed
two of their fellow-creatures to death, it must be believed,
that they had performed a painful but conscientious duty.
He hoped the example would have a useful and salutary effect
in this county, and that men would learn from it not to give
way to their passions and array party against party and county
against county, as it appeared, by the evidence in this trial,
had been done. They (the prisoners) had sent a fellow-man,
without a moment's preparation, out of the world. (It was
at this part of his lordship's address that Murray sunk into
a state of insensibility. On his recovery, his lordship pro-
ceeded.) Ile would say nothing which could add to the
misery which they must at the present moment be suffering
but exhort them to employ their whole heart and soul in
preparation for their great account. He besought them to
dismiss all hope of any longer remaining in this world, and
to take no more pert or interest in its concerns, but to pre-
pare for another, to which they must now he sent. They
would, in the interim, have the comfort of ghostly consola-
tion, and, he trusted, they would endeavour to bring them-
selves into a proper stated mind to meet their fate, by reflec-
tion upon the awful change that must soon take place. They
were about to receive punishment fir the crime which they
had committed, and he trusted, through the merits of their
Redeemer, that their sufferings would be taken into account.
It was now his duty to pass the last awful sentence of the
law. His lordship concluded by passing sentence of death
in the usual manner.