Darlington & Richmond Herald. — 1874-01-10 (Darlington, Durham, England)

THE EXECUTIONS.  On Monday morning,at eight o'clock, was the time appointed for the execution of the last dread sentence of the law, when the penalty of death on the scaffold, was to be carried out within the walls of the County Prisons at Durham. The culprits were Charles Dawson (26), puddler ; Edward Gough (22), labourer; and William Thompson (25), pitman; all of whom were tried at the last Durham Winter Gaol Delivery, before Mr Justice Ilonyman, and convicted of the crime of wilful murder. Dawson, it will be remembered, was convicted of the murder of Martha Jane Addison, a woman with whom he cohabited, at Darlington, on the 13th September. His crime was characterised by features of the most harrowing and brutal kind, the learned judge himself remarking that it was one of the most atrocious crimes he had ever heard of, the perusal of its details being 'enough to make the "blond run cool." Edward Gough was convicted of the wilful murder of James Partridge, at Sunniside, near Chester-leStreet, on the 17th of July. Prisoner and deceased had quarrelled in a public-house, they went outside to fight, and as Partridge was in the act of pulling off his coat, prisoner rushed at him and stabbed him in the thigh with a knife, death entitling in the course of fifteen minutes. The jury recommended the prisoner to mercy on the ground that the deed was done in a moment of excitement. William Thompson was convicted of the wilful murder of his wife, Jane Thompson, at Annfield Plain, on the 6th of October. On the day in question prisoner and the deceased had been marketing at Newcastle On their return home (both being sober), while the deceased was preparing supper, prisoner suddenly got behind her, and cut her throat right across with a razor. The unfortunate woman ran a few yards into a neighbour's house, and expired.  For-the first time lii the history of private executions in England the representatives of the press were forbidden being present, the visiting justices of Durham Gaol having passed a resolution to that effect. Consequently we are unable to state authoritatively how the sentence passed by the learned judge was carried out. Our reporter, who was present in front of the gaol, informs us that at a quarter to eight o'clock the prison bell was tolled, a fact which in former times used to indicate the commencement of the procession of the condemned men, priests, and gaol officials to the scaffold. The bell continued to be tolled until ten minutes past eight o'clock, at which time the black flag was hoisted above the entrance to the prison. This which on former occasions used to be the signal that the criminals had ceased to live, was supposed by the outsiders to tell the stern tale. About 150 persons were congregated in front of the prison. They were chiefly of the rougher element, and watched with great interest the hoisting of the black flag. Below' we give a report of the inquest on the bodies of the criminals, who, it seems, were really executed on Monday morning, in accordance with the sentence of the judge. It is gratifying to learn, from an inspection of the bodies, that the horrible violence which at some executions actually severs the head from the body was not required in the case of any of the men who this morning received the penalty due to them for their crimes. The heads of all of them were on their b dies, but through what sufferings they may have passed before they died the officials who witnessed the last dread scene alone can say. Gough and Dawson seem to have died instantaneously, for their faces were placid as in sleep. Thompson, on the contrary, is said to have died hard, but his features, notwithstanding, were calm and placid. It will be seen from the details gathered ivt second hand by our reporter, that Dawson, while kept a cruelly long time under the drop, really died without a struggle.