EXECUTION OF O'DONNELL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 40, 15 January 1884, Page 2

EXECUTION OF O'DONNELL.

(Per Mail Steamer.) Patriok O'Donnell, the nmiderer of the informer Carey, paid the penalty within the walls of .Newgate on the morning of December 17. The drop fe}l precigqly at 8 o'clock. On ilje previous nighi Q'D6nn,ell wei*t to bed about |;en, and remained apparently asleep till 5.30. At 6 the priest came, and j the prisoner remained iv prayer for some time. At the conclusion of prayeis the sacrament was administered O'Donnnell partook of a light breakfast, which he appeared to eat with relish. At 7.45 the prison bell began tolling, and a similar warning was sent, from the belfry at St Sepulchre's Church, on Holborn Viaduct, Directly

after this the governor of the gaol, with the head wanJer, entered, an! O'Donnell was at once led to the pinioning room. Half way between the condemned cell and the prison yard they found executioner Binns nwaitiu» together with the Sheriff of London, threo warders, and the prison doctor Binns bound O'Donnell's arm with leather thougs, O'Donnell submitting quietly. The procession then formed with the prisoner m the centre, and they quietly marched to the prison yaid passing close to the few spectators, who admitted that they could have touched O'Donnel but for the latticework which separated them. The scaffold he Quickly reached, and the noose hung ominously from the crossbeam above. The scaffold was half boarded up, so that O'Donnoll's attendants were seeu by those present only from the waist up. , Binns ]ost ? not a .moment m placing the ,whifce> cap: over his victim s face and m adjusting the noose, and a moment after O'Dounell disappeared, a quivering cord being all that remained to show where he had stood. The governor and doctor gazed a moment into the cellar, the pit m «hioa his body was swung, and then hurried away. Outside the gnol a considerable crowd was assembled, but they dispersed directly the black flag' was hoisted. Twenty police were detailed inside the gaol, and constables were posted around the walls outside. The body of O'Donnell, after hanging one hour, was cut clown and later m the day the inquest was held the usual verdict bein» returned. The remains were interred m quicklime, under one of the flags m the corridor b own as "Bird-cage walk." While being pinioned O'Donnell smiled, *rulseemed indifferent to his approachmgfate. Be express to the Governor his regrets for the scene he had made m the dock a fter being sentenced. He walked firmly to the scaffold. His death was instantaneous, the fall being 8 teet His brother was not admitted to witness the execution, but remained outside praying excitedly.