The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1878-11-23 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

EXECUTION OF THE LLANGIBBY MURDERER.  Joseph Garcia, the Spanish seaman who was condemned to death by Barmn Bramwell at Gloucester assizes for the murder of William Watkins, his wife, and three children, at Llangibby, was executed within Usk goal on Monday morning. It will be remembered that the only evidence against the prisoner was of a circumstantial character, and he has new undergone the last penalty of the law, declaring his innocence the horrible crime. The convict was in a bad condition on first being admitted to the Usk County . Gaol, owing to the determined, attempts made fo 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 hae. been incess4ntly- visited.. by . the Roman Catholic priest of Vsk and a Spanish- priest .from London, and they have lased • every effort to bring-- before him the cer— lainty of his fate;. no recommendation to merry having accompanied the verdict.. kid no ,effort having been made in the • neighbodihood to obtain the. Royal clemency. It has only been within the past week that Garcia has seemOd to realise the awful situation in which he was placed, and his trepidation has been very apparent to the prison officials. Instead of quietly slumbering by night, his sleep has been very restless and he has eaten very little food. His attention to the ministrations of his spiritual advisers has 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, however, 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 walls 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 tlok place in an angle of the prison near the magistrates' room. The rope was an unusually thick one, was eleven feet long, and provided for a drop of eight feet. Shortly before eight Garcia, attended by two priests and the Spanish Consul, was conducted to the pinioning-room, where Marwood was in readiness to pinion him. At the sight of the preparations he fainted, and Marwood 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 murder. The procession then f armed 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 the body buried within the precincts of the gaol.