The Sun. — 1841-08-26 (London, England)

GLASGOW HANGMAN.  Mr. Thomas Young, the late respectable hangman of Glasgow, was once officially requested to perform a legal operation, secundern artern, on .the tender throat of an unfortunate wretched criminal in Dumfries.. But Thomas was an indulgent father as well as a dutiful hangman; and, under the gentle influence of paternal sympathy, he took his amiable interesting daughter, in her teens, along with him in the carriage (for hangmen officially travel, like gentlemen, in chariots), to have the benefit of the pure fresh air of! Dumfriesshire, and behold the delightful scenery- on the banks of the beautiful With, immortalized by the lyric genius of Burns. The worthy pair, father and daughter, proceeded together to Dumfries, and took up their abode in the gaol. On the evening before the execution, a venerable minister of the Gospel visited the unhappy panel to offer him religious consolation. In passing. from the prisoner's cell to the gaoler's apartments, he came in contact with an elderly gentleman in black clothes, and, deeming him to be a reverend parson like himself, come on the same philanthropic errand, to soothe the criminal's agitated mind, he requested the honour of an introduction. The gaoler complied, and politely introduced him to Mr.• Thomas Young, the .venerab:e Glasgow hangman, and his daughter. A shudder of horror ran through the clergyman's soul. He bowed to Mr. Young, and he looked with pity on the filial girl beside him. By and by they began to chat, and Mr. Thomas diligently related a few of his " legal murders" to entertain his reverend friend. " Do, you never feel any natural compunction," said the divine, " when you are performing your official duty ?" " I recollect," said Mr. Thomas, • "of having once' felt it ; and so strong was the feeling that it almost unman'd' me for a moment ; but it was only for a moment, and then I did my business as nicely as if nothing had disturbed me. It happened thus. I was called a few years ago to Inverness, to execute a woiral for a capital crime. When I was introduced to her, on the morning of her execution, to pinion her arms, at the first glance I knew her. She was the wife of my eldest comrade when I - was in the army, and they both had done me many acts of kindness ; but she was so terribly agitated that I do not think she either knew or recognized me. I felt a horrible sensation in' my mind, for I was about to hang the wife of my old friend, and one who had often been my soother and nurse, at a time when nobody else regarded me. I almost fainted ; and, had the intense horror continued, I must have desisted. But it soon passed off ; and when I again met her on the gallows I performed my duty, and hanged her as deliberately as if nothing had happened to disturb me. This was the only time that I ever felt any natural compunction for the panel, and I have no wish to be troubled with it again." The minister looked at the old legal murderer with pity, indignation, and horror, and, taking up his hat; walked off, without deigning to reply. The unnatural monster who could thus hang the friendly wife of his oldest comrade, fur a little money, would have hanged his own mother in similar circumstances. Such legal and moral monstrosities should not be permitted to continue to disgrace civilised society with the barbarous recurrence of these disgusting executive operations ; and we hope the time is not far distant when the pay and office of hangmen and their satellites will be for ever annihilated.—Scotch paper.  should not be omitted that the spacious pavilion which now fronts the orchestra in the gardens was built for Frederick Prince of Wales, who was a liberal patron of these Gardens. The present orchestra, too, which is not the old-fashioned one of Tyerg, was built by a carpenter ; and the ornaments are of a composition something like plaster of Paris, but known only to the ingenious architect. Before the Gardens close therewill be given, a bal masque, which is to partake of all thatiliiiins of the long-past Ridotto al fresco, the first kind ot'eniertainmer.t with which old Jonathan Tyers opened the Gardens, and whose novelty attracted such immense numbers as soon made, his coffers fill with gold.  T T