The Sun. — 1824-12-21 (London, England)

EXECUTION AT MAIDSTONE.  eaenden Heath, the awful sentence of the law v: ,lity,f at at the acutistutiiedi place of execution on P was carried into circa on the body of Thomas Coombs, who, i at the late Kant ssizes, was found guilty of the murder of Beckenham. From the first moment the prisonerTh s . M enteredorga county gaol, the magnitude of the offence im. puted to him, and the pmbability of his suffering the heaviest thed penalty the law knows of; pointed him out as an object of the more peculiar notice of the worthy chaplain, the Rev. Mr. WINTER, who throu ghou t has paid the utmost attention to him. These have be ni but badly received; the prisoner for the most part displayed a spirit of sullen indifference, and when questioned as to hts par. tieMation in the murder of which he had been convicted, he on most occasions became violent, declaring that he had confessed the extent of his sins to Amighty God in secret, and that he was not disposed to repeat his confessions in public. Since his conviction he has slept but little, and on the last night of his eiestence, he dozed only for an hour. Early on the morning of yester!lay he was visited by the Rev. Chaplain, who endeavoured to bring him to a suitable state of mind for the reception of the Holy Sacrament, and particularly pointed out to him the necessity of snaking a candid avowal of -his guilt or innocence in respect to the offence of which he had been found guilty. He promptly answered that he was innocent; and he was then asked, if that were the case, why he did not at. tempt to establish it at the trial. He replied, " What would be the wt, when it was predetermined that 1 should be found guilty ? It was the reward of 1004. that did for me." The strong circumstantial evidence obtained from the dove-tailing of the tobacco paper was then pointed out to him, and he answered, " What of that ? It was easy to tear a tobacco-paper, and put part of it into the gun, and then swear that they found it so. A hundred pounds will temp;: wen to many dirty acts." Several other parts of the testimony were pointed out to him, and his re. ply to each was, " The 1001. reward did for me." He was asked why he did:not account ror the possession of the fruit he had sold. To this inquiry he made no answer; and a little Fetbre eleven o'clock he was conducted into the chapel, where di.: solemn caemony of the administration of the sacrament wa; performed, in the course of which he was asked by the Reverend Chaplain, whether he was innocent of' the charge alleged against him. To this inquiry he returned no answer, and it was repeated, but lie still remained silent. He was thm asked whether lie was guilty of the offence im. putcd to him. To which he answered, " Don't disturb my mind by inquiries ; I wish to have nothing to say to the question altogether. Do you think I would tell a lie on the subject ? What ! Tell a lie under the circumstances of my present case ? No, never." Under all the peculiarities of the case, the sacrament was at last administered to him, and was received without an avowal of guilt or innocence; but the manner of the convict left an impression that he was in his own mind assured of the justice of his sentence, and that he was only withheld from acknowledging his guilt by a fear of what might be said of him after his death. The culprit was a Bristol man, and served his time to a tallow-chandler. About ten years ago he was married, but had not seen his wife for several years.  Park, to the Rectory of Dogmerifield Hampshire,