Star. — 1828-04-14 (London, England)

EXECUTION.  This morning, at eight o'clock, Catherine Welch suffered the penalty of death in the Old Bailey, for the crime of infanticide. On FLiiLy. afternoon last, upon being removed to the cefls after conviction, she retracted all her previously, uttered solemn declarations of innocence, and.made to Mr. Wontner an ample confession, during the recital of which she seemed deeply stricken with the great enormity of her crime. She endeavoured, however, to palliate it, by saying she had been driven to the most severe distress, and being houseless and without a morsel of food to give the infant, she flung it into the ditch at Parson's Green, where it was soon suffocated. Thiswas the account shegave of the murder,and in answer to interrogatories, said, she had teen seduced by a wai• ter at a public•house, where she was servant, and had married an Irishman when five or six months advanced in pregnancy; but upon her being delivered of that child (which she afterwards murdered) six months after the marriage, her husband upbraided her' with the cheat she had practised upon him, and deserted her; since which time she had bean greatly distressed. Her maiden name, she said, was Catherine Hayes. The unhappy woman appeared to be destitute of friends or resources, and totally abandoned to her fate. She was not, however, neglected by those best able, at such a period, to sooth her mind, and prepare her for the awful change which she was soon doomed to make. The:Rev. JOHN Rods, a Roman Catholic Clergyman, was in constant attendance, and when the wretched woman betrayed, from her wild exclamations, that her mind was torn by remorse, he interposed the words of Holy Writ, that the ALMIGHTY had promised mercy to the repentant criminal at the eleventh hour: still, however, the miserable woman gave vent to unavailing cries.— During yesterday she became more calm, and almost continually prayed with fervent devotion. She made the confession in the form ruled by her religious creed ; and last night appeared to regard the approach of the hour of death with contrition and hope for mercy, through the intervention of the ALMIGHTY Gon. This morning, at six o'clock, Mr. Bourn attended her in the cell. and found the prisoner upon her knees at prayer. She was calmer than she had hitherto been, and joined with evidently great contrition in the penetential prayers read previous to communion. She implored the ALMIGHTY to receive her soul, with a loud and earnest voice, and mentioned mote than once the circumstance of her ignominious fate as an atonement for her crimes. At seven o'clock she received the Sacrament,which, in the Roman Catholic Church, is called the Eucharist, and continued in prayer until a few minutes before eight o'clock, when Mr. Sheriff Spottiswoode and his officers arrived in the goal. She was immediately after pinioned and brought from the. cell. As she was conducted to the scaffold,she exclaimed, " Oh, Oh, my GOD! Oh, my GOD, have mercy I Oh, Lord, have mercy on me I" Her countenance was flushed, and so weak did she appear that the turnkeys supported her along the passages. The execution being for murder, the funeral bell in the prison did not toll. The portion of the burial service was read by Mr. RoLvs. As the clock of St. Sepulchre chimed the hour of eiAht, the unhappy woman reached the foot of the staircase leading to the gallows; she shrieked out, and wrung her hands, evidently in the most inde.crib• able agony of mind, exclaiming, " Oh, my GOD!" She nearly fainted, and a few seconds elapsed helm she was conducted up the steps; a violent flood of tears appeared to give her some relief, and she was then placed under the fatal beam. Her fears here appeared to increase, she swayed to and fro, and was nearly double. She still repeated, " Oh, my GOD, have mercy I" frequently. While the executioner etas placing the rope, she raised her clasped hands up and down, , weeping bitterly, and continued this action and a tremulous movement of her body until the executioner retired, and as the drop fell from beneath lser leer, she uttered a convulsive shriek. The miserable woman's sufferings were but of short duration. She was a good looking stout young woman, of stout '24 years of age, and wore a red striped gown and muslin cap. The crowd was immense, the ghater portion of whom seemed to be of the lover order of After the body had hung one hour, it was removed and taken to St. Batholomew's Hospital for dissection.