The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1872-04-06 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

EXECUTION AT LINCOLN.  0; Monday morning William Frederick Horry, a young man of 28, underwent the extreme penalty of the law for the murder of his wife, Jane Hurry, at Boston, on the 15th of January last. _ '  The prisoner and his wife, occupying a somewhat respectable position in life, considerable interest attached to the case. The prisoner was married to his victim in 1857, and for some time they appear to have lived together on affectionate terms. Last year, however, differences arose between them, and they separated. The prisoner had become jealous of his wife, and so overpowering were his feelings on the subject that he broke up a business into which he and his wife had been put by their friends at Burslem, and abandoned any settled pursuit. The young woman, with her children, went to live at the house of the prisoner's father at Boston. On the 14th ' January the prisoner arrived at Boston having previously purchased a revolver at Nottingham. Ile was allowed to see his wife on the 15th January, but he no sooner came into her presence than he tired at her, the bullet lodging in the aorta, so that death followed in a few sec,,nds. The prisoner's mother came up and exclaimed, " Oh ! Fred, what have you done ?" 17pon which the prisoner said coolly, " Ihave done it." The prisoner's brother appeared next on the scene, and he made a similar inquiry to that addressed to the prisoner by his mother, and received substantially the same answer. Ile kissed his dead wife frantiAlly, KM he had loved her passionately, and be.iged for a lock of her hair, which one of his brothers gave hiin. This brother led him away from the corpse and he asked for a glass of water. The brother suggested brandy, but the prisoner said "No ; I'll have no more of that. I've been drunk on that for the last six weeks." It may be added, that the prisoner and his wife kept the George ILitel, at lturslem, and that he there so gave himself up to habits of intemperance, that he suffered from deliriums trews& He had been angry with his father for taking his wife to his house, and intemperance and jealousy seemed to have almost if not entirely unhinged his reason.  Since his conviction the prisoner conducted himself pretty well, and the enforced temperance of prison life had probably benefited him. He displayed a natural solicitude about his children. Representations were made to the Home Secretary on his behalf, a memorial being presented from Boston, through the medium of Mr. H. Staniland and CoL Amcotts. Mr. Bruce, however, decided to let the law take its course. Until Saturday last the prisoner strenuously refused to see his father, against whom he manifested great bitterness. The interview was very painful. The convict ever since the trial had manifested the utmost composure respecting his fate. On Monday morning he rose early, took an. hour's exercise, and while at breakfast quoted to the gaol surgeon the lines from Hamlet beginning, " I could a tale unfold." Hurry spent the remainder of the time with the chaplain. While being pinioned he admitted the justice of his sentence, and stated that he thought the jury would have exceeded their duty had they recommended him to mercy. He addressed the reporters at considerable length, saying thathe hoped they would not go away with the idea that the retiaarkablt firmness and self-possession he was enabled to exhibit were occasioned by indifference or bravado; they were the result of a fearlessness of death produced by repentance and belief in Christ. He particularly wished it to be known that be forgave his father and dipd at peace with all men. The scaffold was erected at some distance from the gaol, but he walked the whole of the way without assistance, his tread firm, and a calm smile on his face. His fortitude never deserted him. After shaking heads with the chaplain and the gaol officials and thanking them for their good Offices, he wished them good-bye, and mounting the i scaffold, placed himself n the necessary position. His last words, after the cap had been drawn over his face, were,—" God forgive my poor dear father; may he pray for forgiveness. God bless my poor dear cliildren. Lord have mercy on my soul I" The executioner did his work quickly. Horsy died almost instantly, and probably without pain.  _ they remarluable  After- a formal inquest by the county coroner, the bodyinte interred in the Castle Keep,