Darlington & Richmond Herald. — 1874-08-22 (Darlington, Durham, England)

EXECUTION  OF THE KIRKLINGTON MURDERER.  FULL CONFESSION.  On Tuesday morning:at eight o'clock, before the ordinary business of the city had commenced, William Jackson, who will henceforth be remembered in local criminal chronology as the " Kirklington Murderer," suffered the penalty of death in York Castle for one of the most atrocious murders ever committed. Not one palliating fact or argument in favour of mitigation of the sentence of death to that of manslangiter suggested itself to the minds of any who had made themselves acquainted with the revolting details of the murder; and consequently no steps were taken to obtain any reprieve for the murderer. The culprit was a fine-looking man, only twenty-nine ye9i.s of age, of militarj bearing, having for several years served in the 77th Foot, and afterwards in the Army Reserve. The last public execution here took place just before the passing of the Capital Punishment Amendment Bill, 1868, on the old drop in front of St. George's Field, and of course was public. Immediately after the passing of the Act which has made it necessary that executions shall be conducted in private, the old drop was removed, and now in somewhat slightly altered form occupies a place in a large cell adjoining that in which condemned criminals are now confined. By taking away a portion .of the outer wall of his cell, the drop has so been devised that on opening a pair of folding doors which fill up the gap, it can be turned over upon hinges which attach it to the place, and thus fall into a projecting position from the prison wall. Over the drop is a beam to which is attached the fatal noose, -whilst the platform of the drop is simply a couple of swing flaps, which, on the bolt being drawn, drops downward, and allows the unhappy criminal to fall with what suddenness of jerk the weight of his body may, combined with the length of cord to which he is attached, produce.  Although the execution took place in private, so great was the interest evinced by the pifflic that at an early hour many persons were to be seen patrolling near the Castle gates, some, doubtless, in the hope of gaining a glimpse of Askerne, the executioner, if he should arrive. In this respect they were disappointed, for this functionary arrived at the Castle on Monday night, and remained within the building. Nearly all the preparations were on Monday evening completed for the solemn act of Tuesday morning, which, to some minds, appeared the more solemn from the privacy of the execntion, compared with the noisy publicity of the executions of bye-gene days. On Monday the prisoner attended Divine Service in the Chapel, and was afterwards visited by the High Sheriff's Chaplain, the Rev. and Hon. E. C. Glyn, who, at the request of the prisoner, has had frequent and prolonged interviews with him, and on this occasion, remained with him for nearly two hours, and by the chaplain of the prison, the Rev. J. C. Thompson, who has been most constant and assiduous in his ministrations to the unhappy convict, who, however, though he listened respectfully to all that was said, in the end still continued to assert that he was innocent of the crime of which he had been convicted and had not had a fair trial. He has made the same statements in all his letters to his relatives until Monday night,when he wrote a letter to his father and mother, in which, after sending his love to two of his brothers in America, and other relatives, he carefully wrote out the whole of the 51st Psalm, which he asked them to read in remembrance of him, and begged them earnestly, whenever they read it, to think of their son William. The letter, from first to last, contained no denial of his guilt, and in a long interview which the Governor had with him late last night, he was greatly depressed, and evidently softened, and although he would not with so many words admit his guilt, he did not, as he had always hitherto done, deny it, The Governor told him he should sit up, and obtained his promise to ring the bell attached to the condemned cell, if he wished to see him. At one o'clock on Tuesday morning the bell was rung, and Captain Lowrie immediately went to him, and he at once said, "I am guilty of the murder of my sister." He then made the following