The Central Glamorgan Gazette, and General, Commercial, and Agricultural Advertiser. — 1878-11-22 (Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, Wales)

THE MONMOUTHSHIRE MURDERS.  EXECUTION OF GARCIA.  On Monday morning the Spaniard Joseph Garcia was executed at Usk, for the murder of a family at Llangibby. It will be remembered that the only evidence against the prisoner was of a circumstantial character, and he has now undergone the last penalty of the law, declaring his innocence of the horrible crime. The convict, who was sentenced at Gloucester Winter Assizes, was in a bad condition on first being admitted to the Usk County Gaol, owing to the determined attempts made to lynch him at the railway station. After a short time he regained the stolid demeanour which he has exhibited since his arrest, and slept and ate well and regularly. During the whole time he has been incessantly visited by Father Croft, Roman Catholic priest of Usk, and a Spanish priest from London, and they have used every effort to bring before him the certainty of his fate, no recommendation to mercy havin; accompanied the verdict, and no effort having been made in the neighbourhood to obtain the Royal clemency. It had only been within the past week that Garcia had seemed to realise the awful situation in which he was placed, and his trepidation had been very apparent to the prison officials. Instead of quietly slumbering by night his sleep had been restless, and he had eaten very little food. His attention to the ministrations of his spiritual advisers had become more marked, and it was expected that before his death he would leave on record some statement as to his connection or otherwise with the tragedy. In this belief, how. ever, the officials have been deceived. Eight o'clock was the time fixed for the execution, but long before that time hundreds of persons assembled outside the walla of the gaol with a hope of obtaining a sight of the carrying out of what everyone in the Principality considers a fitting sentence on the fivefold murderer. No one, however, could catch a glimpse of the scaffold notwithstanding that some of the more adventurous climbed trees which overlooked the prison wall. The execution took place in an angle of the prison near the magistrates' room, the scaffold used being the same as that which was employed by Marwood for hanging Gibbs, the St. Mellous murderer. The rope was en unusually thick one, was llft. long, and provided for a drop of Bft. Shortly before eight o'clock Garcia, attended by two priests and the Spanish Consul, was conducted to the pinioning room, were Marwood was in readiness to pinion him. At the sight of the operations he fainted, and Marwcod had to carry out the preliminaries while he was being sustained by the officials. A priest during this time was saying prayers for the repose of his soul. The culprit slightly recovered for a moment or two, and then the Spanish Consul, reminding him that he was about to be launched into eternity, implored him to say whether the charge against him was true or not. The prisoner answered in a distinct voice that he was innocent of the murders. The procession then formed and proceeded to the scaffold. On the drop being adjusted a priest held a crucifix to his lips, but he only slightly kissed it, and it was apparent that he was almost unconscious. Death was instantaneous. A black flag hoisted in the prison indicated that the dread sentence had been carried out. An inquest was subsequently held, and ths body buried within the precincts of the gaol.