The Northern News. — 1896-07-25 (Carlisle, Cumbria, England)

TRIPLE EXECUTION AT WINCHESTER.  Private Samuel Edward Smith, 4th King's Royal Rifles, convicted of murdering Corporal Robert Payne, of the same regiment ; Philip Matthews, coachman, sentenced to death for killing his daughter, Elsie Gertrude, aged six; and Frederick Burden, Southampton, labourer, condemned for murdering his sweetheart, Angelina Faithful, were all three hanged at Winchester Gaol at eight o'clock on Tue-,day morning. In consequence of the scandal that 211°,e over the recent triple execution at the Old Bailey, Col. Woods, Sheriff of Hants, with the concurrence of Mr. E. 1). Godwin, Under-Sheriff, and Major Lane, governor of the prison, dec:ded to admit a limited number of the people's representatives, and accordingly four prvssinen were permitted to be present. It happened, too, that the executioner was Billington, and that his assistant was Wilkinson, the man who was alleged to have blundered in the former instance, and hence the wisdom of guarding against any possibility of the repeated and ill-founded scandal. The history of the respective crimes is well known. Matthews and Burden were convicted on circumstantial evidence, and Burden, who was recommended to mercy, was expected almost up to the last to be reprieved. In the case of Smith the crime was deliberate and premeditated. His Corporal had reported him, and he shot him dead in revenge. There was little public excitement or curiosity over the triple execution, and only a very small crowd assembled outside the prison to watch for the hoisti-g of the black flag. All the culprits are said to have attended carefully to the ministrations of the ch plain, the Rev. J. A. Ladbrooke, but of the th•e Smith seemed the more callous. Mr. Ladbrooke saw the men on Monday night, and was with them on Tuesday from six a.m. to the time of the execution. Billington and Wilkinson reached the gaol on Monday night, and were accommodated there. At 7-50 theprison bell commenced to toll its grim and solemn warning, and meantime the Governor, Under-Sheriff, warders, and pressmen waited outside the condemned men's cells, which were separate but adjacent. before the clock struck, Billing,ton and Wilkin on entered each cell in turn, and rapidly pinioned t culprits. Headed by the chaplain, reading the Burial Service, the procession was formed to the scaffold, and the men were rapidly placed in position, and strapped. Wilkinson performed the latter operation, while Billington adjusted the nooses and white caps. The whole operation lasted but a few seconds, and without a single hitch of any kind, th,, last act in the tragedy was reached. A drop of about 6ft. was allowed, and in each case death wa: absolutely instantaneous. The prison doctor ‘• • scended the pit immediately after the fall of the dron, and certified that this was so. All the men walked firmly to the scaffold, and none of them betrayed any feeling or concern.  In the Divorce Division, on Monday, Mr. Justic,! Barnes heard the undefended suit of Kennedy v. Kennedy and Fergussen. Mr. J. Murray Kennedy, a gentleman living in 'Manchester, sought for a divorce on the ground of his wift s adultery .w.th co-respondent, Major Fesgusstin. His Lordship granted a decree nisi, with costs, against co-resp"iident, petitioner to have the custody of the one child of the n•arriage. A shock of earthquake was felt on 'Monday at Terceira, in the Azores. Much Fzcitement has been created by the action of the Aston police in vetoing public speaking. Mr. Stevens, a nember of the Birmingham City Counc.l, co Sunday went to Aston to support a candidate for the School Board. He began to address a ',leering hi th• street, i and uas instantly arrostad on a charge of shouting n the itreet. The magistrate on Monday dismissed the ease. The most expensive shoes cost two dollars a pair. A beggar said to a miser, "Pray, sir, bestow your :harity." " Friend, I have it not. Hardhead Theorists are fools. Thinkhard : Inked ! That's your theory, eh? No cat has two tails. A cat has one tail more than in cat. Ergo, a cat has three tails. Many a man who would like to reform the world las a front gate that won't stay shut.