Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-06-14
THE ExEcUFIoN OF RAnRErr.

THE EXECUTION OF BARRETT.
The London Tines Of May 27, in lis ac-
count of the execution, gives the following
particulars; q
TIE convict, Barrett, had retired to rest
about ten on the previous evening, and,
having spent somewhat restless night
rose at six yesterday morning, dressed HIM
self, and engaged in prayer. Shortly af-
terward be was Joined Ia his cell By the
Reverend james Hussey, attached to the
Roman Catholic Chapel in Moor6elds who
had attended him regularly since bis con-
viction, and who remained with him to
the last. 1t is understood that he received
the Sacrament one day last week, and
again Yesterday morning. Toward eight
o'clock the Sherifs paid him visit, ac-
eompanied by the Governor, and then re-
tired to part of the prison leading to the
scaffold, where the rest of the authorities
and the public representatives had already
assembled. His face had lost the forid hue
it then wore, and in other respects he was
an altered man.
With the first sound of the bells came a
great hungry roar from the crowd outside,
and a loud continued shout of "Hats off,
till the whole dense bare-headed mass stood
white and ghastly looking in the morning
sun, and the pressure on the barriers i'm
creased go that the girls and women in the
front ranks began to struggle to get free.
Amid such scene as this, and before such
a dense crowd of white faces, Barrett was
executed. His clergyman came first. Bar
rett mounted the steps with the most perfect
firmness. This may seem a stereotyped
phrase, but it really means more than is
generally imagined. To ascend ladder
with ones arms closely pinioned would be
at all times difficult, but to climb ladder
to go to certain death might try the nerves
of the boldest. Barrett walked up coolly
and boldly. His face was as white as mar
bic, but still he bore himself with frmness,
and his demeanor was as far removed from
bravado as from fear.
We would not dwell on these details, but
from hesingular reception he met as he
came out upon the scafold. There was a
partial burst Of cheers, which was instantly
accompanied by loud hisses, and so it re-
mained for some seconds, till, as the last
moment approached, the roars dwindled
down to dead silence. To neither cheers
nor Kisses did the culprit make the slight
est recognition. He seemed only attentive
to what the priest was saying to him, and
to be engaged in fervent prayer. The hang
man instantly put the cap over his face and
the rope round his neck. Then Barrett,
turning, spoke through his cap ard asked
for the rope to be altered, which the hang
man did. In another moment Barrett was
a dead man. After the bolt was drawn and
the drop fell with the loud boom which al
ways echoes from it, Barrett never moved.
He died without struggle. 1t is worthy
of remark that great cry rose from the
crowd as the culprit fell-a cry which was
neither an exclamation nor a scream, but
it partook in its sound of both.
With the fall Of the drop the crowd be-
gan to disperse, but an immense mass wait
ed till the time for cutting down came, and
when nine o'clock struck there were loud
calls of "Come on, body-snateherP "Take
away the man you've killed p etc. The
hapgmaE appeared and cut down the body
amid such a storm of yells and execrations
az has seldom been heard even from such a
crowd. There was nothing more then to
be seen, so the concourse broke up with It's
usual concommitants of assault and robbery
| Barrett was an Irishman by birth, about
twenty-seven years of age, of thick-set
muscular figure, rather below the average
height, and with prepossessing counte
nance. He was unmarried, and by trade g
stevedore. His behavior in prison wa
uniformly becoming, and he bore himsel
to the last with great fortitude, submitting
himself at the same time with afiectionatt
docility to the exhortation of his priest
and gratefully received the consultations o
religion.
He was never unduly buoyed up by the
efforts made out of doors to reverse his sen
tence, but rather welcomed the repeated re
spites as afording him further time to pre-
i pare himself for the worst, should it COM
TO that. He died without making any con
fession of the crime Of which he was con
victed, 30 far as any of the authorities ar
informed. Yet there was this peculiarit
about him, as observed more than once b,
one of the authorities in his visits to hin
after sentence, that he never absolutely de
MED his guilt. On those occasions, when
ever he referred to the crime, he alway
said he had been convicted on insufficient
evidence, and that he was not guilty {
murder.