The Sun. — 1834-03-24 (London, England)

EXECUTION OF MARY HOLDEN FOR THE MURDER OF HER HUSBAND.  On Wednesday morning the last sentence of the law was carried into execution, at Lancaster, against Mary Holden. She had suffered severely, as it appeared upon the trial, from the cruel treatment of her husband, a labouring man, who, either actuated by good grounds of offence or impelled by jealousy, charged her with infidelity to him. Before the Court, she foolishly called, on her own behalf, parties who had known her, and who, instead of offering anything in her vindication, justified the opinion which her husband was stated to have entertained towards her. Mary Holden was a young woman of inte resting but not handsome exterior. She did not manifest any strong excitement during the progress of the trial; nor, when the verdict of the jury was pronounced, did she exhibit much outward emotion. But the quickness of her breathing and the convulsive rubbing of her hands (which were also visible upon the scaffola) indicated that she could not look upon death with the cold indifference which some of the expressions recorded against her in evidence might have led a spectator to anticipate. It is said she behaved with some levity during her confinement in the Castle, and up to the time of her trial her gayety was unbroken. The scene, however, was changed after her condemnation. She was a Roman Catholic, and the care of her, from trial to execution, was consequently transferred from the Rev. Mr. Rowley, the chaplain of the gaol, to the Catholic priest resident in Lancaster; and that gentleman continued his attentions to her up to the moment in which she was banished from life The gallows was erected upon the accustomed spot without the confines of the gaol, and it was observed, with some surprise, that the curtain which has usually enclosed the scaffold, and which, upon this occasion, was most needed, had not been affixed to it. Shortly after eight o'clock the under.sheriff, Mr. Birchall, arrived with the javelin men, who guard the scaffold, and immedietely afterwards the unfortunate woman was led on the scaffold by the executioner. She was pinioned, and. wore a plain dress with a cap. She which,iwtmnhii ioeaeearn sdcaece,i adjustment mercifully rqtl t,lseolisytpio:scolbskiitoan.eegl nyinaoilst. neitn‘odqlsoe,fgteifuh,neoette(stirnii ttebtreirtly;eicevorla—rvoonl cipfsf,lwefsoni oeareaasrnsemnotidvt, ourrettr,unlhhtiocpueealcssuit occasions, aapti spilh times,oil The rope having been attached to the beam, and the white capf being drawn over the face of the prisoner, the execund tioner rsosdanp,mwrtasoi uciunpneffig, r wdai rnnsea thesuffering bolt. During this brief interval, the miserable woman er all of h to do until the drop fell. The interval of suspense, between unusually nset unnecessaryi possible e: and nh da than haggard.s e appeared probated by those who witnessed the fact. The prisoner was a thin, honey woman, and her struggles were of extraordin try violence and duration. For several minutes the body heaved and quivered, although probably the actual suffering ceased with the withdrawal of the bolt. The spectators, generally not very numerous at these exhibitions, scarcely amounted to 1,000 persons. Of these, it may safely tie asserted, a m ilority were boys—and boys of extreme juvenility—who laughed and jeered up to the last moment of this sorrowful exhibition.