Bridport, Beaminster, and Lyme Regis Telegram and Dorset, Somerset, and Devon Advertiser. — 1883-05-25 (Bridport, Dorset, England)

THE INQUEST.  At ten o'clock a jury were admitted to the geel in coin. pony with the coroner for the district. Mr. W. W. Monett. ton, to hold the formal inquiry requiired by law into the de tth of the two culprits, reporters being also admitted. They pissed through the entrance to tbe civil side, thence into the gotereor's gard n. an I into the corridor which leads to the cells. The inquest was held in a small roem n tie right hand side of the corridor, and the bodies were hid out in a room adjoining that in which the jury sat. The jury, having chosen their Ire en,n, pr c iede I to view the ho lies. The (eater is of tolla the deceased men bore a placid appeerance, and there was ne evidence of a struggle hiving taken plac i. The necks of both were dialecived, and death must in each instance have been instantaneons. Toe following evidence was rim geed Kiteley depomd an, governor of Her Majesty's Prise, at Taunton. George White an I Joseph Wedlake, whore bodies the jury have just viewed, were prisoners in thie fool. George White pleaded guilty to the wilful murder of his wife, Clara White, at Henstridge, on the 29th of March I .st, at the last assize, opened at T.unten, on the 85th April. He was tried on the 27th of April, before Baron Hividlesten and was sent me el to he hanged. Joseph Wedlake was tried for the wilful murdier a Mirk C x. at Winford. on 'hi 7th 4 Jinuary last. He was found guilty on the 30;h of April, and s •ntencel be the same ju he be haneod. The sentence was carried mit ' on b .th prisoners this morning at eitl.t o'clock in he presence ..f myself. the 11.gh Sheriff (Mr. Stuckey), the chaplain (the Ho/. W. Howe.), the medical offic..r of the prison, and other officers. The to lies hanged .hout an hour, and were taken down at nine o'clock. William 1 linesman raid—l am med:cal officer at Taunt Prism. I was present this morning when White and Wedlake wire hanged, as st,t dby the goverco-. I examined the bodies after they wore cut Mien. The di ceased died fr In Malec 'Mon of the vertehise and injury to the spinal c rd. Death must have been inmant ineous. The vertebrae was couspletely severed and the cord was crushed. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that White and Wedlake were execu el within the prison ac cording to law. Great efforts had haen made in b rth cases to induce the House Sscrttiry to COI:IMMO the aapitel sentence to ono of pent servitude for life. The It .v. Henry Tripp, the rector of Milford, and nearly all the Inhabitants of that village joined in an appeal for mercy for Wedlike, and some domestic circumstances of a very panful nature in the case of White were embodied in a petition to the Home Office; and up to Saturday a few very sanguine pert ins indulged a hope that a favourable result might he obtained. Sir William Harcourt, however, failed to see in the represent diens made to him sufficient grounds to warrant him in lnterferiir with the due Course of law, end on nrinday both culprits expiated their °dolts with their lives. Both prisoners had ms,nifested much p Mitence, and White in particular, whore self-possession at no time forsook biro, resiggsed himself calmly to his fate.