Complex sentence: There may have been feelings of sympathy at the hanging, but there is only one request for clemency on file and in the time preceding his execution the newspapers and their readers seemed indifferent about Slumach's fate.
Split into simpler sentences: There may have been feelings of sympathy at the hanging, but there is only one request for clemency on file. In general the newspapers and their readers seemed indifferent about Slumach's fate.