The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-03-31 00:00:00

;K ECUTJRN.

On Tuesday marniog George Watts, aged seventeen, and
William Winter, aged 21, were executed in front •ol•Fish- •
erton gaol, 'Witte, the former fur setting fire to premise., and.
the latter for setting tire to a hay-rick. A third prisoner, named •
John Wilmot, had :also been sentenced to death for:burglary
and stabbing a constalile, but through the humane exertions of
the chaplain of theairison, who is also the vicar of Kington St..
'Michael, in whose house the burglary was committed, a respite
was witteconsiderable difficulty. obtained foe The.conduct
:of Watts, from the moment of couderanation to his execution,
was hechining his awful situation, On his return to his cell,
after his trial, he made a full confession of Ins guilt, &clarity-
ledged the justice of his sentence, and gave himself up to peni-
tence and prayer. It wasmatterof surprise' to the.rev. chaplaio,
and •to others, that a boy of ais age, who. had led such a preilis'
gate life, sheuldhave•been so conversant with•the scriptures. It
has been said that there is scarcely a passage in the Bible but
he could.refer to. He ettrihuted .his disgraceful end.to .drunken-
ness and Sabbath-breaking. Thecondute of 'Winter, after his:
trial, presented a striking contrast to that of. Watts. • He per-,1
kieted throughout in denying his guilt, and his last Wordsoncthe.,
ecaffold- were an asseveration of his innocence. The rev.chap-
lain; assisted by the Rev. 1). Eyre, devoted much tune in enticesvouring to bring him to a sense of •the very awful situation in
which lie stood, and topreveilupnn him, whether guilty or intro-
Cent of the crime of which he had been convicted,. to view:trims
Self as a sinner, and. standing in' need of- the divine mercy ; but
all spiritual advice.seemed ignite lost upon' him., Both ptisonera
partook of the Sacrament a short time before their execution ;•
and in a small room, near the scaffold, they afterwards knelt
down with the chaplain io appropriate prayers. Watts followed
Lord's
chaplain with great devotion. ' Winter also joined in •the.
Lord's Prayer. Previous to Winter ascending the scaffold, the
chaplain earnestly besought him to say uothing more of his
innocence. as, if he, really were innocent, it could make no
Possible difference in his earthly. punishment. Bear in mind,
said the rev. gentleman) that, in a few moments you "will have
to appear before your Maker, and beware. oh. beware of leaving;
this world with a- lie in your mouth !" Winter stared with evi-
dent surprise at the request; but. did not say a word in • reply.
His hands having been pinioned, he ran quiAly up the scaffold,
ind gazed vacantly upon the humense multitude beneath him.
Watts, •on •aseending•the strop, addressed these assembled it
some length and enjoined thew to take warning by his miser-
able end. Winter then said, whilst the rope-.was round his
neck. "Prot-hers and sisters, I never. did the crime'lann tos-Afer
for; nor do I know who did-it; Idle innocent." These were
the only words he uttered on the scaffold, and they occasioned a
thrill of horror through all who heard theta. In England. the
condemnations to death for 21 years. from 1813 .to 1833,- are
given as 23.700; executions, 933; giving 1.128 average aunual
Condemnations, and 44 executions—an enormous Troporrion
when compared with those of France or Belgium. The follow-
ing table will show this proportion still more distinctly :—The
inedium,executions in France from 1825 to 3332 amounted to (17,
dr 1 for 477,000 souls. In England, from 1827 to t 833, to 44,
dr l for 22,5,000 souls.. In Belgium, from 1815 to 1629, to'4 1-7,
or 1 for 680,000.