HYMNS SUNG AT EXECUTION.
In connection with the execution, at Slrangeways Gaol, Manchester, ui Arthur Birkett, a young Blackburn weaver who killed his sweetheart, Alice Beetham, extraordinary scenes were witnessed. In Birkett’s house in Riley Street, Blackburn, the family and intimate friends assembled soon after six o’clock for Divine service, which was conducted by the vicar of the parish. Among those present was the murdered girl’s mother. Outside a crowd of several hundred mill operatives collected, and on the stroke of the fatal hour they began singing, “Nearer my God to Thee.” “Jesu, Dover of my Soul,” and other hymns. Soon alter eight, a telegraph messenger arrived with many messages of sympathy. When the prison bell announced that the execution had taken place many women and girls in the crowd of about 500 persons outside the gates burst into tears, and one or two became hysterical. The members of the St. Thomas's Conservative Club, of which Birkett was a member, are presenting Mrs Birkett with * a
miniature monument in the form of a broken column, with a suitable inscription, to keep in the house.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19120919.2.23
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1098, 19 September 1912, Page 4
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184HYMNS SUNG AT EXECUTION. Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1098, 19 September 1912, Page 4
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