AUCKLAND.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 7, Issue 369, 19 April 1866, Page 3

AUCKLAND.

EXECUTION OE JAMES STACK, FOE THE OTAHUHU MURDER. (From the N. Z. Herald, 9th April.) The last tenable sentence of the law was carried into effect on Saturday morning within the precincts of the Mount Eden Gaol, when this wretched culprit paid the forfeit of his life as some atonement to the outraged laws of his country for one of the most heinous crimes that have disgraced modern times.

Rather more than ordinary interest attached itself to the conduct of the prisoner from the fact that the evidence upon which he was convicted was circumstantial, although of overwhelming cogency, and in pronouncing the sentence the judge supported, in express terms, the verdict of the jury. Still there has ever been a wish in the public mind that the contrition of the criminal sentenced to death would supply so much of ocular testimony to the deed, as was wanting in the chain of evidence to make certainty of guilt, not only demonstrative, but absolute. Therefore, not only the demeanour,'but every word of the condemned man has been anxiously watched and construed by some one way, and some another ; but his utterings have been altogether ambiguous or monosyllabic, and though there is every reason to believe that he lias not brought the mystery to the grave, still he has given no sign by which the jury, the court, and the public could strengthen their conviction of his guilt. On Friday evening, between seven and eight o’clock, the Rev. Father Walter M'Donald arrived in the goal for the purpose of performing the last sad odices of religion to the prisoner, who is a Roman Catholic. The work of erecting a scaffold had been completed, and when we consider that Stack’s cell was not more than twenty yards off, and he could see it from his cell window, the agony of mind—if he were capable of feeling any such sentiment—must have been intense. The Rev. Confessor was admitted to the cell of the unhappy culprit, and remained with him without the slightest intermission from eight o’clock on Friday night until he quitted him for the last time on the scaffold, a moment before the execution. The prayers and responses of confessor and penitent, could be heard distinctly during the night throughout the yard. Caro had been taken to prevent anything like a spectacle of the prisoner, cell windows overlooking the gallows being securely blocked up. Tho prisoners themselves were confined to their cells until the fatal work had been completed. A little after six o’clock on Saturday morning the Sheriff, the Provincial Surgeon, Dr Philson, and Dr Horne, arrived at the gaol, and were received by Mr Tuck well tho Governor. Shortly afterwards the raemlcrs of the press arrived, and after them a guard of the Auckland Armed Police, consisting of twelve men and two sergeants. Dr Goldsbro, arrived at a later period, for the purpose of holding the inquest on the body. When the appointed time arrived the police fully armed were placed at intervals of about two yards, every two police constables having a warder placed between them, bo as to form a line of procession through which the wretched man should proceed to his doom. The bell tolled, and the governor of the gaol, accompanied by the sheriff, the turnkey, and the executioner, proceeded to the condemned cell, which was immediately opened. Stack was brought into the narrow passage, where tho process of pinioning was performed, the hangman having covered himself to the waist with a black crape shirt, and this operation finished, the white cap was put upon his head. Tho solemn procession proceeded to the scafforld in the following order: —Tho governor of the gaol and the sheriff; Dr Horne (as onei of the visiting justices); the priest, who, in surplice and stole, held a crucifix before the eyes of the condemned man, supporting him at the same time; the hangman, aud and those who were present as representatives of the press, or had been summoned upon the jury at the inquest, which is by law necessary to be held when the execution is private. Rut complete privacy in such cases does not appear to be quite attainable, for on the high rock at either end of the gaol, and overlooking the prison, there were hundreds of people who, eager to gratify their morbid curiosity, had been stationed there for several hours, and amongst them were one or two women whose effeminacy could hardly have been much heightened by gazing upon the ignominious killing of a fellow-creature according to law. Stack’s mental sufferings must have been very great, for he looked worn,'and many years older than when he appeared in the dock, his cheeks being deeply furrowed and his look cadaverous in tho extreme. This may to some extent be accounted for, by stating that since the 9th of March, when the unhappy man was sentenced, he has never left his cell, nor taken exercise but once. There are other signs also to show that the days must hare weighed heavily upon him ; for in his cell were pointed out to us a number of scores, in two separate divisions, and made with his nail in the whitewash, each score in each division representing a day or a night, twenty-six in number, counted from the day of his condemnation to that of his execution exclusively. He never once from

the time he left bis cell to the time he reached the gallows, took his face off the crucifix, giving responses apparently with penitent devotion to the solemn “ Lobd have mercy upon me ” of the clergyman. When he reached the first step ascending the gallows, it was necessary for him to look down to the ground, and here was the only indication of faltering in his step. However he ascended the scaffold with a firm.step, and for the few moments that remained td liijn hstetfed to the Eev. Father McDonald, whoso hand he now firmly grasped. Stack was not clothed.in the prison dress ; he had on those clothes only in which he been arrested—a pair of old blucher boots, and corduroy trowsers and vest. The gallows itself was a somwhat cumbrous structure, but one object was to exclude, as far as possible, the public gaze, but this would appear to be scarcely possible in a structure like that of the Stockade, and when the execution takes place in the open air. It consists of a hinged platform, supported by a wooden girder, one end of which is fastened by a hasp, while the other supports the flaps ; of course the hasp being removed, the platform is little else than a largo strap. Two mattrasses were placed on either side of the fall, so as to prevent the flaps from rebounding so as to touch the body. The beam was placed trans versely across and above this platform upon supports. The greatest care that experience could suggest was taken by Mr Tuckwell that there should be no mishap, and as the result proved, there was none.

When the procession had mounted the scaffold the priest took up his position in. front of the criminal, the Sheriff occupied the space on the right, Mr Tuckwell in the rear, while the hangman was adjusting the rope round Stack’s neck. This was an operation of some two or three moments. At length when the word “ ready ” was passed, Mr M'Donald moved a step backwards, and the Sheriff took the culprit’s hand and said, “James Stack, have you any statement that you wish to make.” The prisoner answered quietly, “ No.” After a moment he made a motion to the Sheriff and said, “Yes.” The Sheriff, “What is it.” Stack, “ Have you taken any measures that my body shall bo buried in the Roman Catholic burial ground?” The Sheriff, “ Yes, I have taken care of that: I saw to it yesterday.” The unhappy man then turned into his position, the bolt was withdrawn, and he ceased to live. The death, from the condition of the neck as examined after he was cut down, must have been instantaneous, for the spinal cord was completely severed. There was a convulsive raising of the shoulders, and of the legs, then one or two gradual throes, which seemed like a convulsive tremor, to travel the whole length of the body, as if the nerves, to use the expression of a bystander, were “ going out.” In less than three minutes the legs stretched, and the hands assumed their normal position by the side, the index lingers alone being curved. In less than half an hour the livid hue of death enveloped the hands. The body, having been left an hour hanging, was lowered and placed in a coffin. There was considerable anxiety to know whether even at the last moment the wretched culprit might have made confession of his crime. The Rev. Father M'Bonald was asked the question, but, as was to be expected, be was silent upon this very important topic with the exception of saying “ I am a Minister of God, and the poor sinner is now in God’s hands.” But Stack had made many statements which were so ambiguous that, however construed, they leave behind them the suspicion that he only spoke either to repel importunity or to baffle curiosity. Indeed, his trial illustrated the normal tendency of mind towards equivocation and mystery, and this tendency would appear to have been too strong for any more generous impulse that might prompt him to make even partial atonement for his crime. On one occasion, when asked by a visiting justice as to the completeness of his confession, he admitted that he had not confessed “ all.” A day or two afterwards he admitted to the Gaoler that he had “ that day confessed it all ” When again urged, he told the gaoler, which would appear to have been the utterance of petulance. “If I have committed the crime, I have confessed it; if 1 did not commit the crime, then I have not confessed.” So far as these few words go they are favorable to the belief that Stack has at least left behind him some clue to the mystery that surrounds at least one of the persons closely connected with the Otahuhu tragedy. The body having been coffined was put aside until a jury should have sat upon the mortal remains of perhaps the’greatest criminal of these times. But there is an individual connected with this execution, who, perhaps, excites some curiosity, namely, the person who performed the unenviable task of Jack Ketch. This person was a convict, and has now received a free pardon and is at large. He received £lO as a reward for his service. Having placed the body in the coffin ho. received his blood money and departed. This person having tendered for the job recited his qualifications as having, while in the Indian service, during the mutiny, hung some scores of persons. He filled the situation of cook and waiter at several hotels in town, and was convicted for stealing a cash box at the last September criminal sittings of the Supreme Court.