Elizabeth-Town gazette. [volume] (Elizabeth-Town, N.J.) 1818-1821, 1819-03-02

CARTS WITH coFFINs;
Two aids, mounted.
At the time appointed by the Marshal
quarter past ii O'Clock, the procession
moved from the court house to the place
OF execution, where, after prayer aud re-
ligious conversation until near one o'clock,
at that hour the prisoners were executed
The day was cold, but fair. A very
large concourse Of spectators were assem-
bled, to behold the awful ceremony. Mr..
Bell, who assisted the Marshal in bis du.
ties, called upon the spectators, and read
the following address:
My Frfends-The execution of the
pains and penalties annexed TO the viola
ton of the laws of God and our country,
is scene SO awful, that it must at once
Danish every appearance of levity and
command our highest attention and con-
sideration.
GAS the organ Of the Marshal, whose
| important duties require his uninterrupted
attention, expect from this numerous as
sembly that silence and decorum, which
this solemnity requires.
"Need / ask for your quiet attention,
while, as the Minister of Justice, he eads
the warrant, in which he is compelled to
consign to the world Of Spirits, the trem-
bling, hoping, dying, penitent malefactors.
Need l solicit yonr silence while !hei,
Reverend Pastor addresses the Throne Of
Grace for their pardon and peace.
No-your sense of propriety will en-
sure the one, and your best feelings will
be engaged in the other.
When the curtain drops which sepa-
rates the conyicts from terrestrial objects,
may every aspiration be prayer TO the
Throne of Grace for mercy on the suffer
ers."
After this address, the Marshal read
the death warrant, and concluded with
the following remarks:
have now read to you fellow citi-
zens, the precept, which, while it authori.
yes, requires should deprive these four
unfortunate men of their earthly existence,
and transport their immortal spirits into
the Eternal World. 1t confdes to me a
solemn authority and imposes an awful
duty. And, fellow citizens, If their
crimes, since their fatal commission, or
their sentence, may have made their beds,
beds of thorns, the delegation of this high
authority and the requirement of dis
charge Of this painful duty, has not placed
me on pillow of roses.
IS But amid the multitude Of thoughts
which have encompassed me, / have de-
rived consolation from a reflection, that
the command of society is in exact ac-
cordance with that high order of Heaven,
which directs that "whosoever sheddeth
mans blood, by man shall bis blood be
she'd"
Whatever may be the motives which
have brought many of you to witness this
sad scene of death, sure am, that il can
not but awaken in every breast, those pious
and solemn feelings so justly due to the oc-
casion; aud that, while as citizens, you
rally round the officers intrusted with the
execution of the laws, you will not hest
tate to look, with piety and reverence to
Him who is above all, and to join with
fervency and true devotion, the Minister
Of our Holy Religion, in imploring the
God of all grace and supplication, 10 be-
half Of these unfortunate men, now about
to be ushered into the eternal world, and
the immediate presence of their God, and
to enter on the morning Of eternity.
"They are indeed strangers among us,
far from kindred friends, or affectionate
relatives, and in foreign land; but ii
must be gratifying to you to know, that
though the stern hand of justice hath
overtaken them, its corrections have been
administered with mildness and sympathy !;
as it is consolation also to believe that
from every region there is pathway TO
Immortality, and that the spirit which Re-
ligion has purified and refined, will, when
Z" freed from the body find its native coun.
try = for Christianity has assured us,
that God is no respeeter ofpersons--but of
every nation sect and people, they who
fear him and .peDitently confess and repent
Of their sins and rely on his mercy shall
find grace to help them, in time Of need"
AT the termination of this address the
Rev. MFR. l.. duplicated the throne Of
Grace for mercy on the prisoners, then
most affectionateIy embraced and saluted
each of them.--They then signihed to the
Marshal that they were ready for execs-
tion, and assembled the scaHold-Williams