REMARKABLE EXECUTION.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 316, 29 July 1879, Page 3

REMARKABLE EXECUTION.

During the agitation for commutation of sentence of death passed on two youths for rape, the following letter was addressed to a New South Wales journal :—Sir,—ln yours of the 7th instant M Inquisitar " asks: Was there during the reign of George IV. any boy hanged ? There was a boy hanged at Maidstone for murder. The murdered boy was sent by his parents (who resided at Chatham) to Aylesford, distance about five miles, for a small sum of money, and two of his playmates (brothers), aged 11 and 13 years went with him. On their return in passing through the Blue Bill Wood they killed the boy and took the money. The murder was found but. The elder boy was found guilty. His brother, who , turned King's evidence againßt him,, stated in evidence that they did not kill the boy the first day. They tried to cut his throat, but their knife not being sharp enough to cut, they stabbed him in several places about the neck and disabled him, took the money, left him, and went next day to see him ; on turning him over he squeaked like a rabbit. This frightened them, and they left him to die. This boy was the first person hanged at the then new gaol at Maidstone.