The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-07-27 00:00:00

EXECUTION OP THE BISHOP OF ERME-

LAND'S MURDERER

Rudolph Kuhnapfel, the tailor, who murdered Bishop
Von Hatten and his housekeeper, in the episcopal resi-
dence at Frauenburgh, was executed early on the morn-
ing of the ith instant, on the hill about a mile from that
town, near the Elbing road. The judgments pronounced
in both instances by the criminal tribunals, concurred in
sentencing him to suffer death by the wheel, commencing
at the lower extremities and proceeding upwards (von
unten auf.) The sentence was confirmed by the Royal
assent, dated the 15th ult., to which a new form was
given. In the late reign it used to run thus—" We have
read the sentence, and order the execution." The pre-
sent King has adopted the following phrase—" We have
read this sentence, and shall leave free course to the
law." The prisoner behaved in a very regardless man-
ner for a long time, and showed nothing like remorse or
contrition until after the sentence of the court in the last
resort was made known to him. A marked alteration
then took place in his conduct, On the 28th ult., when
the cabinet order for his execution was read tb him, he
was so agitated that he could not speak. He then wil-
lingly received the spiritual assistance of the priest. The
day before the execution he confessed, and received the
sacrament. '1 he Elbing Zeitung gives the following ac-
count of the execution :

At half-past four in the morning the prisoner was re-
moved in a cart from Braunsberg under a secure escort,
and arrived about six o'clock at the place appointed for
the execution.

A crowd of persons, exceeding 10,000, had assembled
by day-light from all parts of the diocese, and it is
worthy of remark that more than one-half of the col-
lected mass consisted of females. 'I he delinquent having
alighted from the car in a very low state, a restorative
drught was administered to him, after which he was con-
ducted to the scaffold. 1 here, on his fetters being struck
off, he kneeled down with the accompanying priest and
prayed. 'I he chief of the Braunsberg tribunal then read
the sentence, which ordered the execution by breaking
on the wheel from below upwards, and closed with an
address to the three executioners present in these words :
" And now I deliver him to you for the due fulfilment
of this judgment."
On hearing this the malefactor looked round to the
priest, sank again on his knees, and ejaculated a short
prayer. '1 hen rising he laid himself, with calm resolu-
tion on the scaffold, and, refusing the assistance of the
executioners, placed his limbs in the required position.
1 his done he said with a firm voice, " God have mercy
on my poor soul !" One of the executioners covered his
face with a cloth. 'I he terrible operation by the wheel
now commenced. In ten Minutes the wretched man was
dead, and the body was deposited in a coffin prepared to
receive it. 'I he spectators looked on in a calm, orderly
manner, preserving a silence suited to the awful scene
before them and th 3 crime of the sufferer. When all was
over, they dispersed quietly, but apparently under the
influence of deep emotiox.

NARROW ESCAPE OF A VESSEL-DEATH OF
TIIE CAPTAIN.

(From the Guernsey Star, July 12.11

Yesterday 'morning, betweeni the hours of eight and nine
o'clock, during the prevalence of strong wind from the west-
ward, a chassemaree came round St. Martin's-point, and
stood in for the roadstead. Having, however, but little can-
vass set, she was, by the combined influence of wind and
tide, driven considerably to the eastward, and cast anchor
about a mile to the W.N.W. of the Ferriers Rocks. She
had not been long at anchor before the cable parted, and she
drifted towards the southernmost of the rocks. The crew
hoisted the foresail, but could not set it properly, and the
vessel, passing between the Ferriers and the half-tide rock,
drifted into the Great Russell. The crew then made a signal
of distress. Shortly after they lowered the boat, and aban-
doned the vessel. At this moment, Henry Rougier, sen.,
D. Marriette, sen., Henry Rougier, jun., Joseph Rougier,
Daniel Marriette, jun., and Henry Marriette, who had for
some time attentively watched the movements of the chas-
semeree, fearing lest the crew might not be able to reach the
land against the strong adverse wind that was blowing, re-
solved on going to their rescue in their boat, the Resolution,
of 20 feet keel. They steered for the passage between Horin
and Jethou ; on reaching which they observed another chas-
semeree that was coming down the Great Russell, which
took the crew of the abandoned vessel on board. The Reso-
lution then turned her attention to the vessel, which did not
appear to be in a sinking state. They reached her about
three miles to the north-east of Sark, and foul of the Reso-
lution's people got on board by means of a small punt they
had in tow. She proved to be the St. Joseph, Jean Loreil,
of Vannes, in Britanny, from Bordeaux for Rouen, with a
cargo of wine and iron. If she were leaky, the water had not
as yet reached the cabin floor. She was drifting head to
wind, dragging her anchor. After cutting away the cable
ther poceeded to hoist the foresail; in doing which they
found the body of a man lying nearly under the windlass.
He was quite dead, but yet warm, and there was blood
round the mouth, and on the deck under the face. They
left the corpse where they found it, and, after great
exertions in clearing away the ropes and sails, which were
in a very confused state, got the vessel under canvass,
and reached Sark about one hour after. They moored
the vessel at the Laches off the harbour, and then one of
them proceeded lo the residence of Mr. Le Pelley, the Seig-
neur of Sark, to report the circumstance of their being a
corpse on board, and ascertain what course was to be pur-
sued. The constable of Sark and a medical gentleman re-
siding there went on board in the course of the afternoon ;
when a post mortem examination was made, and the latter
gave it as his opinion that that death bad resulted from a
blow on the head, but whether from a tall or otherwise
could not be ascertained. At six o'clock in the evening an
inquest was held a Sark, the process verbal of which has
not been received, but which it is understood merely stated
that the body had been found at above-mentioned. The
corpse was landed at Sark, and has probably been this day
buried. At two o'clock this morning, the weather having
moderated, Henry Rougier and his companions left Sark in
charge of the St. Joseph, and arrived here a few hours after.
They found her crew, consisting of four men and two lads,
at Cadic's, the other chassemaree having landed them here
yesterday afternoon. From them they learned that the corpse
was that of the master, and that in their opinion his death
had been occasioned by apoplexy. He had, they said, ran
forward when the cable gave way, to assist them in hoisting
the foresail, and whilst so doing was dreadfully agitated,
wringing his hands, and crying bitterly, and before the fore-
sail was hoisted, he fell backward on the deck, striking his
head on a block. They endeavoured to raise him, but froth
and blood were issuing from his mouth, and he was insensi-
ble. and to all appearance dead.
They sounded the pump, and finding several feet of water
in the hold, they resolved on quitting the vessel to save their
lives. The statement respecting the water in the hold was
corroborated by the pilots, but with this excption, that it did
not arise from any leak in the bottom, but from seas that had
been shipped. The pilots pumped it all out as soon as the
vessel was moored, and she did not make more than four
inches of water during the passage from Sark to this island.
The St. Joseph is 74 tons burden, French measurement,
and her cargo 'consists of 344 hogsheads of wine, And 9
tons of iron.