The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1833-08-16 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

EXECUTION. On Monday morning Henry Nicoll, late captain on the retired list of the 14th Regiment of Infantry, was executed at Horsemonger-lane Gaol. He was tried and found guilty of an unnatural offence at' the late Surrey assizes, and in the course of the trial it was proved in evidence that he belonged to a gang of which Beauclerk, who, it may be recollected, committed suicide sorrie time since in the county gaol, formed one of the parties.— Nicoll meditated self-destruction himself, as will appear from what occurred after his condemnation. As soon as the trial was over, which took place on Friday, the 2d instant; and lasted.from nine o'clock in the morning until eight at night, he was conveyed from the Court house at Croydon to- Horsemonger-lane, and on his arrival at the gaol he was questioned by Elmes, the head turnkey, as to whether he had any instrument in his possession ; in reply to this question Nicoll energetically declared that he had not. The turnkey, however, suspected this declaration, and insisted upon a strict search before he was placed in the condemied cell, and immediately commenced it. Nicoll, on finding the turnkey was determined, then began himself to turn his pockets inside out, in order to convince him of the truth of his asseveration ; but the turnkey, on a minute inspection, discovered, concealed in the lining of the collar of his coat, a long nail, which was sharpened at the point like a lancet, and with which there was very little doubt he intended to destroy himself. How he became possessed of this instrument there are no means of ascertaining; at all events it was impossible that he could have sharpened it in the manner it wasfound, and the supposition is, that it was conveyed to him in some way or other by the other prisoners. Nicoll had entered the army- at a early period of life, and formerly belonged to the 72d, from which he exchanged into the 14th Foot, and with this regiment had seen a good deal of service abroad. He was very respectably connected, one of his brothers having served the office of high sheriff of Bedfordshire some years ago, and, had the former lived, he would have be come entitled to some property arising from the manor of Studham, in the above county. From the period of his conviction up to the morning of execution he conducted himself with great propriety of conduct in the gaol, and paid the utmost attention to the devotional exercises performed by the chaplain, to whom he had acknowledged the justness of his sentence on several occasions since his trial. The night previous to execution he slept soundly for some hours, and on awaking and inquiring the hour, appeared anxious for the arrival of the sheriff and the executioner. At nine o'clock precisely the unhappy man was led from his cell to the place of execution, which is immediately over the entrance into the gaol, and, after a short time spent in prayer, the drop fell and he soon ceased to exist. A large concourse of people assembled to witness the execution, and amongst the spectators a number of females also presented themselves, and by their shouts manifested their abhorence of the criminal. The body having been suspended the usual time, was then taken down and delivered over to the surgeons of one of the Borough hospitals for dissection.