Year: 1868




Of q London Msb.


The extreme sentence OF the law was carried
out upon Michael Barrett on the morning of
ment which followed the Gierken%eii % US sIe eIpie-
sion, the fact that the convict was executed
within few hundred yards Of the scene Of his
reared for the last time publicly in that coun-
try, the crowd in the Old Bailey was remarka-
bly, small True, that gloomy thoroughfare
filled up rapidly from half-past seven to eight
O'Clock, but the attendance was nothing like
that in February, 1864, when the five pirates
were hanged; or In the following Novem Der,
when the sentence of death was carried out
upon Franz Muller The London Gazptte
says: Barret met his fate firmly. preferring TO
die as q martyr in the eyes Of the Irish than TO
make confession OF his guilt.


The scene rs thus described by the London
Times; 'Calcraft 1.-THE executoperD and bar
rett each had a horribly noisy reception direct
ly they appeared. The persistent burst of
groaning which greeted the detachment of
metropolitan police joining the city cons tables
In the enclosed space before the gallows became
appalling when the hangmau was recognized
Let's put him there insteadr Shame sDown
with MIN, Bah, bah, murder, bah;' are but a
few Of the articulate SOUNDS heard from the
windows Of the Old Bailey and ringing in the
doomed mans ears at the supreme moment.
But even these were lost in the excited
and congratulatory cheers for Barrett


Nor Were more touching evidences OF SYM
pathy wanting. Hanging over the barrier i'm
medlately opposite the gallows, and supported





fainting figure OF young woman Of some four
or five and twenty. Her decent demeanor and
modest air won even upon the brutal natures
around her and a couple of genuine London
roughs kept back their comrades by entreaties.
and when necessary by blows. Whatever her
relationship or knowledge of Barrett may have
been, there could be no doubt of the genuine
ness OF her emotion this morning. Deadly
white, with clenched lips, and hands which
clung to the wooden barrier before her with
the tenacity Of a drowning man, she succeeded
rn1ln
fell. When Barrett appeared ON the scaffold
the womeL supporting her redoubled their
consolatory efforts and her bleac he'd face and
wistful air became intensified IN their express
sions. But when his face was covered she
gave way, and at the fatal moment fell pros
trate, and lay in passion of hysterical grief
dead TO the noises and blind TO the sights near
him, and conscious only of the gallows and its
doubtful mission.


When the first sound of the bells came
great hungry roar from the crowd outside and
loud, continued shout of ssHats of 20 till the
whole dense. bare-headed mass stood white
and CHASTITY looking in the morning sun. and
the pressure on the barriers increased so that
the girls and women in the front ranks began
TO scream and struggle to get free. Amid such
scene as tLis, and tetore such dense crowd
of white faces, Barrett was executed His
clergyman came first. Barrett mounted the
steps with the most perfect firmness. This
may seem stereotyped phrase, but 1t really
means more than is generally imagined. To
ascend ladder with ones arms and hands
closely pinioned would b. at allitimes difficult.
but to climb ladder to go 10 certain death
might try the nerves of the boldest Barrett
walked up coolly and boldly. His face was
as white as marble but still he bore himself
with f1rmness, and his demeanor was as far re-
moved from bravado as of fear. We would
not dwell on these details, but from the singu-
lar reception he met as he came ont upon the
scanold. There was partial burst of cheers.
which was instantly accompanied by loud
Kisses, and so il remained for some seconds. till
as the ast moment approached the roars dwin-
oiled down to dead silence. To neither cheers
nor hlsses did the culprt make the least recoy-
milton. He seemed only attentive TO what the
priest was saying 10 him, and 10 be engaged In
fervent prayer.


The hangman instantly put the cap over his
face and the rope around his neck. Then Bar
rett, turning. spoke through his cap, and asked
for the rope to be altered. which the han gman
did In another moment Barrett was a dead
man. After the bolt was drawn and the drop
fell with the loud boom which always echoes
from II, Barretineyer moved. He died without
struggle. Ii is worthy of remark that a great
cry arose from the crowd as the culprit fella cry
which was neither an exclamation or a scream
but II partook in its sound of both. With the
fall OF the drop the crowd began to disperse.
but an immense mass waited till the time for
cutting down came, and when EIne O'Clock
struck there Were loud calls of Come on body
snatcher "Take away the man You We
kllled! &c The hangman appeared and cut
down the body amid such storm OF yells and
execrations as has seldom been heard even
from such crowd. There was nothing more
then TO be seen. so the cCncourse broke up with
Its usual concomitants Of assault and robbery
The body was placed in a shell and removed
to an adjoining building in the presence OF the
sheriffs and under sheriffs, the Governor. the
prison surgeon, and the ordinary. There the
rope having been removed from the neck and
the leather straps by which the legs and arms
had been pinioned, the Surgeon certified that
life was extinct. The expression Of the face
was marvellously serene and placid, and the
features composed to a degree irreconcilable at
nrst sight with the notion of a violent death.
though the lips and parts of the forehead were
unusually livid. Towards the evening the
body was buried in the accustomed place with
In the precincts Of the prison, In a grave up
wards of five feet deep, in the presence of the
Governor and other officers of the JAIL