The Sun. — 1856-12-24 (London, England)

EXECUTION OF TES' ITALIAN CONVICTS  AT WINCHESTER.  WINCHESTER, TUESDAY. The last dread sentence of the law was executed this morning upon the ptrsons of the three Italian sailors,. convicted at the late gaol delivery at Winchester of piracy and murder on board the British barque Globe, in the Black Sea, in the month of July last. The conduct of the prisoners since their condemnation has been becoming the awful position in which they were placed. Immediately after sentence had been pr flounce I, and while under an impression that their lives would be forfeited within a few hours, they were fearfully e ;cited, and declared loudly thatjus le had not been done to them. But the interval which has since elapsed has been so far improved by the rev. chaplain of the prison, Mr. Foster Rogers, and the Roman Catholic clergymen appointed to attend the culprits, that before the wretched criminals suffered they not only confessed their guilt, but admitted the justice of the sentence by which their lives had become forfeited. Guiseppe Lagaoa was the first to break silence on the subject of his crimes. About two o'clock yesterday he had been engaged in prayer with Signor Salvatore Ferretti, an ltalianFrotestant gentleman, who at the request of the visiting justices came down to Winchester sown after the men were sentenced, to act as interpreter and take down any statements they might desire to make. Signor Ferretti, acting with Mr. Rogers, the excellent chaplain of the gaol, had completed an impressive penit3atial prayer in the Italian language, and was about to leave the cell, when Lagaoa suddenly se.zed him I y t le wrist, and atter an apparently painful inward struggle with his feelings exclaimed with the most tragic gesticulations, " Sono colpevele ! Sono colpevole ! Sono colpe vole !" (I am guilty ! I am guilty ! I am guilty !) Before Signcr Ferretti could question the unhappy man he added, "Io suli' anima cinque omicidii" (I have 5 mur, ders on my soul.) Signor Ferretti asked Lagaoa what he wished him to understand by the last observation. Upon which the wretched man exclaimed in Italian, "I am the chief sinner, and on my head will rest the murder of the two sailors for whom we are condemned, as well as my two poor companions, whom I dragged into it by the hair of their heads (strascinati per i capella). lam guilty and deserve death."  As soon as Signor Ferretti had explained to the chaplain what had fallen from Lagaoa, Mr. Rogers at once had the statement committed to writing, and forwarded to the Home Secretary by special messenger. The joint statements of the culprits had already been laid before Sir George Grey, who saw nothing iu them to induce an interference, and, as might be expected, the confession of one of the prisoners offered no stronger grounds for staying the execution. Mr. Rogers' humane effort was simply acknowledged as follows : " Whitehall, Dec. 22,1856. Sir,—l am directed by Secretary Sir George Grey to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this date, reporting that Guiseppe Lagaoa has confessed that he is guilty of th crime for which he has been sentenced to death ; and has stated that his fellow convicts were drawn into it by him.  "I am, sir, your obedient servant, " A.