The Sun. — 1849-04-17 (London, England)

ATER •AT LONDON 11111101 E.  Tnla 11A-T -474nrning, 11l min. after S 4 Evesinr, 12 Wart. after II To-Nloaaww—ldorning, 51 min. after 9 Evening, IT vain. after 10  fbe Iran: action p  ;cktt;;4.  sliv luck  lee a little aft  lock on the rnerfts of Saturday, thP The witr, ii about that Lour  " heard a great screaming and crying in Miss JETi FRIES' bed-room." She went down, and mentioned t to her landlady, Mrs. FRY, and they both went I back, and knocked at the wall separating her own room from Miss JErransi, and • I in a minute or two the noise ceased. About seven o'clock the same morning the witness told the prisoner that " she thought it was her mis- I tress attempting to pull her out of bed, and that it was • she herself was crying." She subsequently added, " I had heard her cry two or three days before in the yard, and knew her voice. I had seen her cry, and heard her mistress call her a dirty hussy, and say she was slow • iat work." Here then is distinct and positive testimony that" thegreat screaming and crying" proceeded from • the unfortunate girl, who, in all human probability, had about that time been severely beaten by Miss I JEFFRIES, before she had in the instinct of self-defence, or perhaps in the passion excited by the unwarrantable assault, struck the blow that terminated so fatally. Mrs. HAM'S evidence was directly corroborated by the witness JANE Fxr, who heard the "great screaming and crying," and strengthened by that of the surgeon to the police, who stated that "he had not known an instance where a person who had received such a blow had been able to scream for two or three minutes." There can, therefore, be no doubt that the screams were not those of Miss JEFFRIES, but of SARAH THOMAS herself. Under these circumstances, then, we fearlessly appeal to every unprejudiced person— ; even to those who consider a stern administration of the law essential to the well-being of society—whether there are not extenuating circumstances that should be taken into account, and which fully i warrant a remission of the extreme penalty. A stone is not a weapon that would be deliberately resorted to as the instrument of death. Hatchets, hammers, knives, pokers lay scattered about, some lof which would have been used if a fatal result were contemplated; but a stone is that which would be I seized in a moment of excitement and anger, when ; nothing more was intended than to return the blows with interest that had been showered upon her. If the proceedings up to the moment of death were apt such as to merit capital punishment, the subseiquent purloining of property should not turn the scale. The entire conduct of the wretched being was ridiculously absurd, preying that she was little better than a fool. She made no attempt to escape ; her father's cottage at Horfield, but two miles removed from the scene of her guilt, was her selected place of refuge. The evidences of her crime were scattered ' about ; she had even given a pair of bracelets belonging to the deceased to her brother and sister as playthings. Her simplicity and folly were unquestionable, and yet this child of lit years of age, this wretched girl so ignorant of worldly affairs, is to be publicly strangled on Friday next, unless Sir G. GREY should, in the interim, take a lenient view of the case, ' and recommend a commutation of the sentence. We cannot think that the judicial murder will be perpetrated—we cannot suppose we are returning to the Draconic code that existed in the good old times " when