THE LATE UNLAMENTED MR. BAMFORD.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 253, 21 October 1873, Page 4

THE LATE UNLAMENTED MR. BAMFORD.

William Bamford, who died in the Melbourne Hospital lately, had heen tbe hangman of Victoria Bioce 1857, nnd had also until lately acted as fl *i»e!a:or. According to Bam ford's own stutcmeut he must havo been 73 years bf age, and he alleged that he was born in Eogland in 1800. He was brought op as a wool sorter, but steady industry did not suit him, and while a very young man he joined the 33rd Fusiliers, in which regiment he served for 20 years. He appears to bave been a troublesome soldier, for on one occasion, wbilo bis regimsDt was at Goeport, ho received 300 lashes, and eventually, for some serious military oflence, was transported to Van Diemao's Xand. He arrived in tbat colony by the Rryal Sovereign, iv 1841, and served his sentence wiih the ordinary ops and downs of convict life. Bam'ord came to Victoria in the early days of tbe diggings, and was unnoticed until 1857. Soon after tbe execution of the murderers of Mr Price, old "Jack Harris," tbe hangman of lhe period, was lost Bight cf, and his assistant * Walsh " went np country. Thia waa Bamford's oppprtunily, and on November 6, beiog then In gaol, he undertook to hang one John Mason, an old man, aged 60, who was sentenced to death for murder. The execution took place in Melbourne. From that time, witb one exception at Beechwortb, where a substitute was found in the local gao), Bamford has executed the whole of the criminals put to death in tbe colony. He used to keep count, and mutter after an execution the number he bad put oot of tbe world. The black rullian who was hanged at Ballarat on the i Ith of August, made seventy-one. Bamford was nearly worn oat at the time I c performed this last duty, and the officer wbo had charge of him reported that he had no easy task to get him fafely back to Melbourne. Before this tbe office of flogger was taken from him, as on the last occasion tbat be wielded the cat he was seized ■with an asthmatic fit, and was only ju6t able to complete his task. Strnn{?e to say, tbe man wbo haß succeeded Bamlord, though mach younger, arme** in the fame ship aod at tbe samo timo as he did. Bamford's appearance was rendered more repulsive thau it would otherwise have been by the loss ol an eyr, which he got injured in some drunken row in Melbourne, come fifteen or sixteen yews a^o. His habits were very iutemperate, and any money he obtained from ihe Government was soon squandered in the company of a degraded lot of both sexee, who used to look out for him when he was expecicd to leave lhe gaol with money io his pocket, and join him in his drunken orgies He was accustomed to squat in Boine wretched place of shelter in the neighborhood of the barrack?, and here could generally he found when he wt>s "wanted" by the auihorities. To send notice to "Jack" that he was n quired to come into the gaol was aii-licit-nt. This would be given him two tr chiee days beforehand, and then he would at once voluntarily imprison himself, sleep iff his drunkenness, make himself clean, and be ready to hang or lio*, aa his « j.ih" mi. hi be. His spells of liberty were, however, few and far between, for he was repeuledly convicted as a vagrant. Doubtless the fr.queat intervals of temperance thus forced npon him lengthened his days. Ti.e life he lei out-id* the yaol without a fhonge muet have killed him years before. Bamford, as a tuie, pirforrned ihe lerrible work alloted to him quietly and efficiently. He was faithful, too. after his kin «, ami could be depended upon. 000 su keniug attempt to show good feeliDg to those he executed he never omiued. Aher he had pinioned bis man, and so rendeied him helpless, he used always to nhfcke him hy the band, and murmur " GoJ bless you ' before be pulled the fatal bolt. Like the gravedigger in Hamlet, "be bad no feeling of bis business." On one occasion, when the man executel died instantaneously, he was observed to leau over the drop, and, with an air of satisfaction, while looking at his work, remark, " The best job in the country— that makes 47." Bamfcrd was not manied, and so far as is known hbs left neither kith or kin.