Star. — 1818-08-04 (London, England)

WICKLOW ASSIZES. At the last Assizes for the county of Wicklow, Philip Lewin stood indicted before the Honourable Baron Guottort, for the murder of Thomas Lewitts, his father. The circumstances that led to the apprehension of the prisoner, his conviction, and execution, were fee:. Ott the morning of the murder a woman met the prisoner, with wham she was acquainted. He was dressed in a dark-coloured coat, and wore white yarn stockings. In about an hour after this meeting she was going, np the same road ; she heard cries of distress, she advanced, and saw a man striking another man on the ground, but did not know the person inflicting the wounds. Being apprehensive of approaching alone, she applied to a woman living on the road, and also to a man, and directed them to where the man was lying. As they came up they saw a man with a large dark coat, and white stockings, running away, but did not see his face; arriving where the body of the man lay, perfectly dead, they discovered it to be the prisoners father, with his head beat in in three places. The man brought by the woman said, "It is either Phil. or Pat. that has murdered the father r While standing•there a boy came up, and on seeing the body, mentioned to them that he had just met Phil. Lewins running up the road ; that Phil. had asked him if he had seen a man running before, with a light-coloured coat? To this the boy replied lie had not, and walked on. The prisoner continued to run, the boy looked back, and saw him go into the gap of a field, and almost immediately return, and continue running. Being asked if be could point out the gap, he replied he could ;. accordingly the party repaired there, and after three searches, found a pistol, with the pan down, the stock broken, and loaded with powder and ball; a pursuit was made, and at the distance of about four miles, the prisoner was discovered by his white stockings in a field, covered, except his legs, with furze. When the prisoner was discovered he was asked what brought him into that situation ? He replied, that he oweci his landlord 1:60 rent, and then when lie saw the crowd, he thought they were bailiffs coming to arrest him for the debt, and that, therefore, lie was in the situation they found him. This was the only defence made on the trial, which was negatived by the landlord, who declared, that though the prisoner was indebted to him, he had no cause to apprehend an arrest at his suit. The prisoner was instantly found—Guilty. Bawn Gum, in his address to the prisoner, after conviction, endeavoured to arouse him to a sense of the atrocity of his offence,- aggravated by the fact of that being the murder of his father. The prisoner, instead of paying the least attention to the Learned Judge, merely said, " They stole my lease—William stole it, and gavl it to him, (meaning his father), and lie gave it up to Mills." He received the awful and dreadful sentence el death without emotion, and retired from the Court still speaking of his lease. Frequently, previous to his execution, he was attended by the Bev. Dr. Porter, who (as he does in every case) exerted the piety by which his character is marked, to bring the wretched being to a sense of his awful situation—of religion he had no knowledge —a prayer he either would not or could not say—not even the Lord's prayer. To the pious exhortations of the Reverend Clergyman he replied, " they stole my lease." He had been of the Catholic religion, and about fourteen years ago read his recantation. Pre• suming he might wish to commune with a clergy, man of his former persuasion, Dr. Porter mentioned