Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1881-11-12 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

GUILTY. A deep wail, as of a woman, in the back of the Court added a deeper gloom to the awful silence prevailing. The worst was known, and the worst was not felt KO keenly as the excitement and fear of anticipation. The man who a moment before Lad the hope, however indistinct, of acquittal, now stood forward a convict. He grasped the railings of the dock, and faced the Judge to receive sentence. His lips were ashly pale, and his look of mental asony moved the hearts of the less stern. Wien asked the usual question whether he had anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon him, Lefroy, bowed down and weakened by tse strain to which he bad been subjected, sail, in a tremulous voice, " No ; only to thank the jury for their kindness I" He had scarcely finished the sentence before he was interrupted by the Crier of the Court proclaiming " Silence" for the passing of the sentence of death. Lord Coleridge, evidently deeply moved, assumed the black cap, bowing low his head, proceeded to pronounce the capital sentence of the law as follows: "Percy Lefroy Mapleton, you have been convicted on the clearest evidence of a most atrocious murder—a murder committed upon an old man, a harmless man, a man that had done you no harm, a man whose movements may possibly have been unknown to you— you have been justly and rightly convicted, and it is just and right that you should die ; and the sentence is not the sentence of the Judge and jury, but of English law. I will not harrow you, nor endanger my own self-command by going into the facts of the murder, or by attempting to estimate your moral guilt. He only who knows the temptation can estimate the sin; arid it is not sin, hut crime which I am here to punish. The law punishes your crime. Your sins, whatever they may be, will be judged hereafter. The sentence of the Court upon you is that you be taken from hence to the place from whence you came, and from thence to the proper place of execution, and that you be there hanged by the neck till you are dead, and that you be taken to the Sheriff of Sussex for the execution of this sentence ; and may God have mercy on your soul!"  The dread ceremony was over in two minutes, and a quarter of an hour of awful arid harrowing suspense had ended, but the last word was not even then said. Lefroy, standing in dramatic attitude, tnrned to the gentlemen of the jury, and while be clutched the iron rails in front of him, said to them with great deliberation and in tones of sepulchral depth, " tientlemen, some day, too late, you will find that you have murdered me." The chief warder held him by the shoulder as he spoke, and now led him below out of eight of those who in all human probability looked upon Lefroy for the labt time.  Lefroy was removed at five o'clock on Tueeday evening from Maidstone ciao' to LeAes Gaol, where he will undergo the last penalty of the law. Be was accompanied by two warders, and was conveyed iu a cab to the South-Eastern Railway Station, and alighting from the vehicle was hurried handouff,d into a second-class carriage compartment, where two prison officials from Lewes and two from Maidstone took their seats beside him. He was attired in a black frock coat and silk hat, while his handcuffod hands were bidden by a thin overcoat. Re.aching the station a few minutes before the train started, the carriage containing him was taken some distance up the line to bide him from the view of a large crowd which had assembled. despite the efforts to keep his departure secret. At the time fordepartare, ten minutes past five, the carriage was backed and coupled to the train, and the journey commenced. At each station there were large ciowds anxious to catch a glimpse of the culprit, but the blind was kept closely drawn, arid they were disappointed. It bad been expected that he would change carriages at Tunbridge Wells, but the South-Eastern carriage was detached and attached to the direct Lewes train on the Brighton line. On reaching Lewes a cab was in waiting, asd he was driven to the gaol. A large crowd greeted him with groans and jeers.