The Sun. — 1851-04-17 (London, England)

THE WARRINGTON MUIIIDER. LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY.—During the last four or five days a reprieve, as far as the female prisoner, Margaret Lyons, is concerned, has been expected, in consequence of the confession of her husband, thy` she had nothing to do with the murder of the deceased. On the female prisoner being made acquainted with the endeavours which were being made to commute the sentence in her case, she, for the first day or two, exhibited a restless anxiety to learn what her fate was to be; but DO communication having been made to her up to the beginning of the present week, she has, since Monday, been resigned to what she has considered the probability of the extreme sentence of the law being carried out against her. This morning, however, brought a respite from the Home-office, which was, of course, immediately communicated to the wretched woman, who, up to the time of its arrival, seemed to have given up all hopes of mercy. The document does not come in the actual form of a reprieve—it is barely a respite directed to the governor, and it is to the effect that the female prisoner is not to be executed until the go• vernor hears further from the Secretary of State. The respite was of course marked " by order of the Queen," and is consequent upon the representation forwarded from the Rev. Mr. Marshall, the Roman Catholio priest to whom the male prisoner made his confession. It might reasonably have been expected that, on the intelligence being conveyed to the female prisoner that in her case the carrying out of the extreme sentence of the law was to be delayed, she would at once have exhibited a prompt appreciation of the royal clemency; but this does not seem to be the fact, for, on the communication being made to her by Captain Caibbes, the governor of the gaol, she at first received it with a vacant indifference, as if she had given up all hopes of a reprieve, and become resigned to the fate which awaited her. It may, however, be said, as tending in some degree to explain why the communication had so little effect upon her, that she, like her unhappy husband, la exceedingly ignorant, and it was some time before the governor was able to make her undersletaanrndindgishtionrc.ately. her altered position. Her first impulse, on tual situation, was to express, in rambling terms, her gratitude to the governor for what he had done for her, and en, the governor telling her that he had no more to do with *he matter than communicating to her the Queen's command that she was not to be executed until further orders were received, and that she ought to be thankful to Almighty God for it, she fell down on her knees, apparently absorbed in deep feelings of gratitude. With regard to her husband, the male prisoner, until within the last few days he has exhibited a kind of careless indiffirence to the awful situation in which ho is placed. Although he has often repeated his confession, inculpating himself, and, entirely exculpating his wife, he seemed to have been almost inaccessible to religious impressions or spiritual consolation. Yesterday and to• day, however, a marked change for the better has taken place, and from his religious instructors we learn that ha is now keenly alive to the position in which he is placed, and the dreadful fate that awaits him. He frequently dwells upon the enormity of his crime, fully acknowledges the justice of his sentence, and says that he is quite ready to die. The execution is fixed for the 26th inst.