Star. — 1829-09-24 (London, England)

EXECUTION OF DAVID EVANS.  CARMARTHEN, MONDAY, Sm. 21 At ten o'clock this morning the wretched culprit David Evans, convicted of the wilful murder of Hannah Davies on the night of Saturday, the 13th day of June last, on Pencarreg mountain, in this county, was brought out on the top of the county gaol where the scaffold was erected, to undergo the awful penalty of the law according to his sentence. The unfrequency of crimes of this atrocious description jp the Principality may account for the agitated interest created by tbis approaching catastrophe. Before the hour of seven this morning an immense concourse of people, horsemen and pedestrians, were ken approaching the town from all parts of the country to witrieu the execution ; and when added to almo-t the whole population of the town, already waiting in front of the gaol, the crowd presented an enormous mass seldom witnessed at a single glance. When the unhappy man at length appeared. pinioned and prepared far the last scene of his earthly career, although nothing remarkable was visible in his demeanour, the shock evinced among the populace was affecting in the extreme, many of the temales sobbing aloud, while others shrieked in hysterics. The prisoner himself showed unusual firmneu, and without much pausing dropped the handkerchief, the fatal signal to launch him Into eternity, when the stand beneath his feet was withdrawn, and, horrid to relate, the iron chain attached to the gallows,tbrough which the rope was reeved, gave way, and in an instant down dropped this unhappy being, and alighted on his feet, from which he fell for an instant, but, without any assistance, rose again. It seems he was no stranger to that vulgar error proverbial among the lower classes, that when the rope breaks a reprieve or pardon is the convict's due by immemorial custom. Accordingly, when he gained his feet a second time, he demanded his life, saying, " he had been hanged once, and they had no more to do with him."— Here it became the melancholy duty of those about him to convince him to the contrary ; but it was with much difficulty be was brought up a second time. When every thing for the purpose was now carefully adjusted, he dropped the handkerchief once more, and the world closed on him for ever. In adverting to the accident above described, which prolonged the already intense sufferings of this wretched being, and harrowed every human heart in the unusually large throng, we cannot too severely censure the carelessness of the county carpenter, whose neglect alone was the cause of it. The following minutia of attendant occurrences may be added : The prisoner was attended by the Rev. Mr. Jones, the Chaplain of the prison, and the Under Sheriff, L. 0. Lewis, Esq, to whom he expressed his unfeigned thanks for his humane attentions. A thorough confession of his crime, without the slightest reservation, adds highly to the weight of the atonement he has made. When divested of his irons and pinioned, he prayed with the utmost fervency, walked steadily to the fatal beam, firmly underwent the ceremony of adjusting the rope, and asked for the loan of a bandkerchief to give the final signal. After hanging the usual time, the I body was cut down and given to the surgeons for dissection.