Star. — 1826-03-23 (London, England)

LANCASTER, FOR THE MURDER OF MR. AND MRS. CASS.  As soon as the awful —se"ntence of the law had been passed upon this man, and he had been tenaoved from the dock to the prison, all that firmness which he manifested on his trial gave way. He burst out into bitter weeping, and positively affirmed his innocence. He was immediately afterwards visited by the Rev. Mr. Rowley, the chaplain of the prison, to whom he confessed in a frank and open manner the. justice of the sentence passed upon him. He acknowledged that the bloody deed was perpetrated by himself alone: although he maintained that the subject of the robbery was first suggested to him by Ralph Weston. According to his own account, he accomplished the, sanguinary purpose whilst under the influence of liquor ; and he said he thought he did it with the poker alone, and never used the spade, which it was intimated by the surgeon must have been employed in cutting the old man in the way he was found, but of float he could not speak with certainty. As to the stick stated to have been found in the house, he said it must have beat there before he went, for it was not taken there by him. That his sole object was plunder; and being perfectly well known to both the old people, he murdered them, in order, as he Conceived, that no testimony should rise up against him for the robbery. That he searched as' ' much as he could for money ; but the appearance of the old people, after their snurder,-so horrified him, that he seized the first article that came to his hand, and then fled with precipitation. That ever since be committed the murder, the remorse and gnawing of his mind were indiscribable. That he was determined to deny his guilt till legally convicted ; and that now, having dis-1 burdened his Mind from the load, he felt more tranquil. Sunday he attended the chapel, in company wih James Simpson, John Smith, and Thomas Martin, who are also left for execution for uner in,: forged notes. On entering the chapel, he appeared to be composed and firm; and there was very little alteration in his general appearance from what it was at the time of the trial. On his being placed in the apartment appropriated for condemned felons, lie wept bitterly for a length ofi time. lie brought a prayer-book into the chapel with him, opened ir, and appeared to peruse it even during the time the Chaplain was delivering an affecting discourse from the 2d Peter, 3d chapter, sth verse. —He slept composedly the whole at Sunday night; and on Monday morning, the Chaplain again visited him. About eleven o'clock, the sacrament was administered to him, and soon afterwards he was pinioned in the usual way. Exactly at twelve o'clock, he came upon the fatal scaffold, and after the burial service had been read over by the Chaplain, the drop fell, and he was launched into eternity. He appeared to struggle very little.  Shortly before one o'clock this morning, a fire broke out in the shop of Mr. Starkes, oil and colourasan, of Drury-lane, which entirely destroy ed the same. So rapid was the fire, that the only inmate in the house narrowly escaped with his life, by jumping from a Window. A body which had been picked cut of the Thames, near Sr. Katherine's _Ducks, and which had been re-. moved to the bonehouse, waiting for an inquest, was, a few evenings since, stolen ll'elefrcm by some experienced. re.urtection-men. J