Conduct of the Criminal after sentence was passed.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 215, 21 June 1848, Page 2

Conduct of the Criminal after sentence was passed.

Burns stated to one of the clergymen who visited him in the condemned cell, that he was horn iv Liverpool, Qjfpa.i'eiH§ natives of Ireland ;

tlinl ho thcio the liisl twenty yeais of Im life, and was hi ought up as ;i ship-might. At about twenty ycais of age he went to sea as ship caipenlei, which calling h e lolloped till he took up his losidence heie. After lv.-i com id ion lie had the utmost attention from the Chaplain of the gaol, the Row J. F. Chuiton, and was frequently usited by the Rev. T. Huddle, Weslcyan mimstei. liewould listen attentively to the spiiitual advice and instruction administered, but, as though lost to all sense of the evil of sin, and in utter darkness as to the heinous nature of those crimes which had so deeply stained his own character, and the guilt of which all who knew any thing of his history felt must he resting upon him, he would declare thai his wickedness had not been so great as might be imagined, and, though he admitted that he had fallen into a few evil practices, yet that his heart was not vicious, and that bad company had led him astray. On some occasions he would bitterly weep, and especially when he. thought of his children, for whom he seemed! to have a strong affection. His feelings quite overpowered him on one occasion when relating an interview he had with them. The eldest boy, about live years old, said to him, " Father, why have they put those things on your hands ? They say they are going to take you to the Noith Shore and hang you up, — but they shan't, I will go with you." In lefcicnce to the crime for which he was condemned, he constantly protested his innocence, nor did he cease to do so till the evening before his execution. He was accustomed to do this in the most solemn and awful manner ; he would take the Bible, kiss it, and appeal to God for the truth of his asseitions. On one occasion he fell on his knees and called on God to visit him with the greatest, punishment if he was guilty of the crime. He made various statements — sometimes wishing to fix the guilt on Reardon and her associates, saying that he had seen her wearing articles of dress bearing Mrs. Snow's name ; at other times he would talk as though he believed the natives had perpetrated the horrid deed, and assigned his reason for leaving the North Shore a fear lest he should be served in the same way. When asked if he supposed that Iteardon had been connected with the natives in the murder, and how, if natives were the murderers, she had obtained possession of the property, lie would evade the difficulty by saying — "God knows, she knows best how she obtained it." It is more than probable that he indulged a hope that he should escape, for though he often expressed a preference for death rather than transportation, yet he would say " If I had my life and libeity again, what a different man I would be — I would be a pattern to all men." He sometimes seemed anxious to know what the public thought ; when told that the woild believed him guilty, he would appeal to God who he said knew he was innocent. He frequently lemarked on the character of the principal witness, as being calculated to destroy her testimony : and when told that her evidence was coiroborated by various circumstances, he said " God only could show the truth." And when told that his own asseitions were not credited because he had so frequently made false statements, his reply was — " What can a man do when he has told a lie, he must say something to make it appear, plausible, and to carry him through." He would frequently express a desire that 'he might be permitted after death to haunt thoso whom, he blamed for having brought him into such circumstances, threatening to torment; them night and day till they told the truth. It was not till Friday evening that he manifested the slightest disposition to acknowledge any participation in the crime for which he was to suiter. Mr. Buddie was with him when he took leave of his children, and the feelings of the parent seemed completely to subdue him, he kissed them and wept over them in the bitterness of grief, saying— "Good bye, you will! see your father no more," expressing his anxiety that something should be done for them in the way of education, and his sorrow that they were in such hands. "My heart and soul," said he, wringing his hands, " are with those children !" As they were carried from the cell, hesaid — " Oh that I could take them with me !" " I can think of nothing now sir," said he tv» Mr. Buddie, during the overwhelming excitement that seemed for the moment to sink him to despair. " I sometimes doubt whether there is an Almighty, I think if there were He ought to make that woman speak the truth !" He was urged to compose himself and think of that eternity to which he was going — " I can neither think of eternity nor anything else," was the reply. When Mr. Buddie was about to leave, he said — '""Burns, I am going to leave you, and shall not see you again in this woild ; Mr. Churtqn is coming to spend the night with you, and this is my last visit — do you wish me to leave you with the impression you have hitherto endeavored to make on my mind, that you are an innocent man ?" "I wont say so" was the reply — but he added — " If the woman be taken across the water to-morrow, to the spot, I will then declare the truth, if she wont." " What/ enquhed Mr. 8., "am Ito understand that you know the facts and could declare them'?" "I know the truth, she knows the truth, and God knows the truth — and if she caa be taken to the spot to-morrow, the world shall know it too — if she wont declare it, I will. The truth has not yet teen, toldi^ £ Hpw," again

(-lujunod Mi B ,"do you wish mo to undei stand what you say > — that you and tin- wonun com nulled Ihe deed*" " 1 uonl say," was the leply. "Oi, do you wish me," .lgam asked Mi. I>., "to undcistand that you think if she were taken thcie, she would declaie youi innocence ?" " I wont say," he replied. When told she could not he compelled to go, he said, "Then 1 shall say nothing, I shall not open my lips, I shall die with it in my own breast." And on leaving him, when Mr. 13. again asked « I3ums, do you wish me to consider you an innocent man ?" " I wont say, was the lcply." Mr. ]>. saw him again about eight the same evening, uhen he made similar statements. The .substance of those statements weie communicated to Mr. M'Klwane, and to the Rev. J. Y. Chmton, and he subsequently made the confession of his own guilt, which has already been lcfened to, admitting himself to have been the peipclrator of othci heinous crimes in this neighborhood, besides that for which he suiTeied.