The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-27 00:00:00

our reporter, the convict requested one of the turnkeys to
write to his wife Mary Good ; his request was complied with,
and a communication, dictated by the murderer, which was
of a rambling and incoherent character, was dispatched yes-
terday morning to his wife. He retired to rest between 12
and 1 o'clock, and slept tolerably sound until 5 o'clock yes-
terday morning, when he arose and dressed himself in a frock
coat of a dark olive green, and dark grey trousers, which
had been sent for by Good's desire, and which were brought
to the gaol by Inspector Busain, of the V division, at a late
hour on Saturday night. At an early hour the Rev. Mr.
Carver visited the culprit in the condemned cell, and re-
mained engaged with him for a considerable time in prayer,
but he evinced not the slightest intention to make any con-
fession. At half-past 10 o'clock Good attended divine ser-
vice in the private chapel. He afterwards partook of dinner
with a seeming relish, and a few minutes before 3 o'clock he
again attended the chapel, when the Rev. Mr. Lewis, from
Rochester, preached an excellent sermon from Psalm 13, v. 1.3,
" Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? He hath said
in his heart, Thou wilt not require it." The chapel was not
much crowded in the afternoon, there being less than a
dozen hearers in the body of it, and the conduct of the
criminal was therefore more easily observed than in the
morning. Upon the prayers being read the prisoner
turned round and knelt covering the upper part of his
face with his hands, during which time he appeared as if
repeating the responses after the clerk. Occasionally he
stared wildly round the chapel, and clasped his hands to-
gether, as if appealing to heaven. In appearance he was
much altered for the worse since the trial; his dark, quick.
penetrating eyes were inflamed and sunken in his cheek, and
his countenance altogether was of a pallid hue. At the con-
clusion of Divine Service he rose, and standing in the centre
of the chapel, and evidently struggling with his feelings, en-
deavoured for a few seconds to give utterance to them. At
length, in half choked sobs, he faltered out, as he waved his
hand, " The Lord be with you all !" " God bless you!"
The two turnkeys who accompanied him then led him out of
the chapel to the cell, where he was doomed to pass the few
remaining hours he had to exist.
Messrs. Alderman Magnay and Rogers (the Sheriffs,) the
ordinary, and the governor, were unremitting in their atten-
tions to the malefactor until a late hour last evening ; all

their endeavours, however, to bring him to a true state of
repentance were totally fruitless. When pressed closely con-
cerning the atrocious crime which be had committed, he
avoided the question, and dwelt upon some frivolous circum-
stance connected with his dress or his travels abroad. At
twelve o'clock last night he went to bed for the last time and
slept soundly for about two hours ; he then awoke and re-
questeirthe turnkey to read prayers to him, waich was done,
and between three and four o'clock he fell into a doze, during
which he exhibited great restlessness, and finally rose at five
o'clock; rn.7l,dressed himself in the same clothes in which he
appeared in the chapel yesterday. Shortly afterwards Mr.
Cope entered the condemned cell, when the culprit ex-
claimed, " I am no murderer ; I am no murderer !" but
finding his assurance of innocence made no impression upon
the governor, he' desisted from making any further remark to
that gentleman.
By four o'clock the fatal drop, the barriers and all the ne-
cessary apparatus for carrying the law into effect were com-
pleted, and even before that hour groups of people assembled
in the Old Bailey. Before six o'clock above 200 of the City
police, under the direction of Major Shaw, the superintendant,
in addition to a considerable number of the Metropolitan
police, were stationed in front of the gaol, and at this time
a more dense mass of human beings had assembled than has
been known since the execution of Fauntleroy. All the
houses opposite the prison had been let to sight-seeking
lovers at an enormous price, and in several instances the
whole of the casements were taken out, and raised seats
erected for their accommodation. In one case a noble lord
was pointed out to the reporter as having been a spectator at
the last four or five executions, his price for his seat was said
to be £l5. The house-tops were likewise covered with per-
sons, both male and female ; and the number of spectators
far exceeded those who were present at the execution of
Greenacre or Courvoisier. The usual ribaldry and coarse
jokes were indulged in, and drunkenness and debauchery
were prominent characteristics of the scene.
Shortly before six o'clock the Sheriffs, Under Sheriffs, the
Ordinary, and other officers of public justice, arrived at the
prison, and proceeded to the condemned cell, where fresh
attempts were made to induce the culprit to acknowledge
the justice of his sentence, but with no better success than
on the previous days. About a quarter past seven o'clock
his breakfast was taken to him ; it consisted of some coffee
and , thin bread and butter, of which he ate heartily.—
Calcraft, the hangman, arrived soon afterwards, and at
twenty minutes to eight o'clock the reporters were ad-
mitted into the condemned cell, on entering which they
found the convict seated on a form, with the Rev. Mr. Car-
'ver by his side. The first words he was heard to ejaculate
were, " Oh, my dear sir, I would not deny it at all if I
were guilty." He appeared at this moment to be in a
most distressed state of mind, but extremely cautious in
what escaped his lips ; indeed it appeared as though he was
acting in the hope that by creating a belief in his innocence he
might avert that ignominious death which in a few minutes
he was inevitably doomed to suffer. After a momentary
pause he lifted his hands and, clasping them together, ex-
claimed, as he looked around, " The Lord bless you all, the
Lord of Heaven be with you all." Then, fixing his eyes
upon the Sheriffs, he said, " The Sheriffs—may God bless
you both; I return thanks to you all • may the Lord God
bless you." Mr. Cope, the governor, then advanced near the
culprit, and was immediately recognised by him ; he ex-
tended his hand to that gentleman, and remarked in a
tone of deep lament, " Oh, Mr. Cope, you have been my
best friend, and may the Lord God bless you. I declare, as
I shortly expect to stand before my Maker, that I never
took a life. As I have often told you, Mr. Cope, when I was
in Spain and Portugal for many years, I have seen many a
man killed, but I never took a life, I declare to Almighty
God." During the time he was giving utterance to this
solemn declaration, he continued to fold his hands in an
imploring attitude. The Ordinary then observed, "You
are now about to quit CM. world ---.have you any-
thing more -Se ...Are you prepared to go into tile
next world ?" The malefactor again replied, " I
never took a life • may the Lord receive me into the
gates of Heaven. I never took a life." The reverend divine
then said, " Do you adhere to the statement ? Remember, you
have but a few minutes to live." The prisoner here laid
his left hand on the Ordinary's shoulder, and taking one of
that gentleman's hands into his right, said, " Oh, my dear
Sir, I should own to you if I was guilty ; for I have now
only two or three minutes before I go to my execution.
I never took a life. May the Lord bless you and be with
you all." The chaplain then reminded him of the scriptural
passages he had frequently read to him, and which said, that
those who confess their sins would find mercy in God. The
culprit, however, still repeated that he never took a life—
adding, as he pressed the Ordinary's hand, " If I had I
would tell you, for you are the man I love ; I love the
ground on which you tread. You have prayed with me—
you have read and you have talked with me; and I would
not deny it now that I have only a few minutes to live. I
hope the Lord will receive my poor soul." Mr. Carver ob-
served, if you are truly penitent he will, to which the culprit
responded, " Why should I tell a lie when I've only got a
few minutes to live? Oh, my dear Sir, I told a gentleman
when he came up from Norwood, that I would tell you every
thing."—Mr. Sheriff Magnay here desired the unhappy con-
vict not to dwell on that subject, as he was only making his
case worse. The ceremony of pinioning here took place,
nad the culprit, with a ghastly smile observed, " I think I
see my Maker now before me." He then requested to have
some wine and water, which was administered to him by
Mr. Cope, and the executioner took off his muslin necker-
chief and placed it between his bosom and his coat ; upon
this being done the culprit requested the hangman to re-
move the neckerchief, and accept it for himself. The shirt-
collar of the wretched man was afterwards unbuttoned and
turned down at his request, and the chapel bell having
sounded his funeral knell, the solemn procession moved
along the gloomy narrow windings of the gaol to the
scaffold. Good frequently imploring, in loud accents, the
Almighty to save his soul. He walked with a firm step, and
ascended the steps of the scaffold without assistance. The
prisoner, on being placed under the gallows, was assailed
with the most hideous yells and long-continued execrations
by the mob. When the hangman was about to draw the cap
over his face, the murderer cried out " Stop, stop," and ap-
peared anxious to address the crowd. Calcraft desired him
to attend to the prayers of the Ordinary, and in a few seconds
the bolt was withdrawn, and the unhappy criminal was
launched into eternity. He seemed to struggle violently for
. some seconds, and his body, after hanging the usual time,
was cut down. Dr. Elliotson after Wards took a cast of the
murderer's head in the presence of several medical and
scientific gentlemen.

DESTRUCTION BY FIRE OF THE GEORGIA,

INDIAMAN.-FIVE LIVES LOST.

On Saturday afternoon the melancholy intelligence of the
loss by fire of the ship Georgia, of Newcastle, an Indiaman,
Captain Mitchell, bound to London, was received by the
underwriters at Lloyd's, attended, we regret to say, with a
deplorable sacrifice of human life. The ship was between
800 and 900 tons burthen, and was valued at £7,000,
being splendidly fitted up for the accommodation of
passengera. She had a very rich cargo on board, consist-
ing of jewellery, merchandise, and other valuable property,
which perished with the vessel ; a loss in total of nearly
£20,000. The unfortunate event occurred on the morn-
ing of the Ist of last month, while on her passage to
England, from Calcutta, which place she left in the early
part of February. From the accounts brought over by the
ship Thomas Sparks, from China, which arrived off Dart-
mouthon Friday morning, it appears that, early on the
morning mentioned, the " watch" on deck, when the vessel
was in latitude 30 south, and longitude 36 east, off Madagas-
car, discovered a strong smell of burning about the ship ; he
aroused the commander, Captain Mitchell, and the rest of
the ship's crew, and a strict search was determined upon.
On the boats being removed, and the main hatches taken off,
the burning was found to proceed from the cargo, when
orders were given to remove over a portion of it, so as to get
at the fire. The crew, however, had not proceeded far, be-
fore a volume of smoke burst upon them, and shortly after-
wards it became so intense, accompanied with excessive
heat, that they were forced to desist. Captain Mitchell
then had the hatches replace& and blocked up every
aperture in the ship, in the hope of stifling the fire. But
this proved unavailing, for in about two hours the flames
broke through the cabin windows, and likewise from the
hatchway over the forecastle, to the terror and dismay of all
on board. Captain Mitchell, perceiving that the destruction
of the vessel was inevitable, directed the crew to prepare
themselves to leave the ship, which they immediately set
about doing by lowering the boats (two in number) over the
vessel's side. It was a most trying moment, for the sea was
extremely rough, with a heavy gale of wind, and with the
knowledge of their being between 800 and 900 miles
from land every soul expected to meet with a watery
grave. At about eight o'clock the chief mate, with nine
of the crew, left the burning vessel in the jolly. boat ; and
they were directly followed by Captain▪ Mitchell and the
rest of the ship's crew, four in number, in the small boat.
In the course of a quarter of an hour afterwards the work of
devastation had reached the mast, and she appeared embo-
died in one mass of flame, forming a terrible, though magni-
ficent appearance. At this critical peri▪
od a vessel was ob-
served at a distance bearing towards the ill-fated ship, and
the chief mate turned to make known the joyful intelligence
to Captain Mitchell and the rest of the crew, when he was
horror-struck on finding that the boat had foundered, and
none of them were to be seen. They gpwed about in hopes
of picking them up, but unfortunately none of the poor fel-
lows ever rose after. The ship Thomas Sparks, which
proved to be the vessel they saw bearing down to their as-
sistance, came up alongside soon afterwards, and took the
chief officer and the rest of the Genrgia's crew on board,
and they remained within a short distance of the burning'
ship until she went down, which event took place at a late
hour in the afternoon. The Georgia and cargo are reported
to be insured to the extent of £25,000.

EXTRAORDINARY TAKE OF SALMON AT FORRES.—One
day last week, the salmon fishers of Hogarth & Co. caught,
in the Findhorn, opposite the ureeshop, 405 large fish !
Next day the take was 150! And on the following day 402 !
We understand the takes at the stake nets, on the Findhorn
Sands, have been equally good,—Forres Gazette.