THE EVENING MAIL, Words are things, and a drop of ink falling upon a thought may produce that which makes thousands think." MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1877.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 246, 5 February 1877, Page 2

THE EVENING MAIL, Words are things, and a drop of ink falling upon a thought may produce that which makes thousands think." MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1877.

The circumstances attending the carrying into effect the death-sentence upon the unfortunate convict Woodoate, are such as to peremptorily demand that such preventive steps be taken that a like outrage upon humanity shall not take place in the future. The crime which the condemned man has expiated with his life was a cowardly, cold-blooded one, and deserving of the doom attached to it; but the treatment to which the unfortunate wretch was subjected during the last twenty-four hours of liis life was the very refinement^jcrnelty. It was well known to him from the time the last- dread sentence was uttered by the Judge that almost superhuman efforts were being nidus by his friends and fellow-townsmen to obtain a commutation ; and when the dreaded hour which was to end his mortal career had arrived and passed without the hangman claiming his body, who can picture the agony of suspense endured. " The sense of death is most in apprehension," and during the twenty-four hours succeeding the allotted date of his doom, he must have suffered the agony of death an hundred fold. As the law stands on the question, we believe the warrant to tue sheriff empowers and obliges him to see' that the dread sentence is carried into effect within a certain time, but if from any unforeseen and unlooked-for circum-

stances it is found impossible to do so, the Governor can issue a fresh -warrant. In this particular case,the delay was not unforeseen, and had the*; sheriff attended to his duty, tile difficulty would never h ive occurred. Ample time had elapsed from the passing of the sentence to the day of execution to have provided a hangman, and the conduct of the sheriff in not having done so, and thereby subjecting the unfortunate victim to the agony and terrors of suspense, is open to the very gravest censure and condemnation. The conduct of tiie wretch who volunteered and carried out the disgusting task was also an outrage upon the decency which should be observed upon so solemn an occasion, and the tone of levity used in addressing the condemned man by that hideous functionary showed him to be bereft of every spai'k of humanity or feeling. We are quite aware that as long as capital punishment remains upon the Statute Book, the

ervices of such miscreants are a necessary evil, but the sheriff, who is tlie presiding official upon such occasions, should take care that the last moments of the uniortunate criminal are not embittered by such heartless remarks as Woodgate had to listen to. After shaking hands in a free-and-easy style with his victim, the hangman, with a contempt for the feelings of the pinioned wretch before him, addressing him, said, in a tone of heartless levity, "Well, old man, I wish you luck on your journey," twice repeat ng the expression, and then, with the greatest sang-froid, kicked with his foot the bolt which secured the trap from beneath the feet of the shivering wretch, and ere the death-struggle was at an end, asked those assembled round the scaffold if he had not executed his 1 ask in a workmanlike manner. We believe to-morrow morning another tragedy is to be enacted, and the murderer of >Sl?a>tag hax, Cuhtiis, pays the penalty of Lis rash and bloody deed, and expiates his crane on the scaftolu. [t is to be hoped the proceedings v.'ill be carried out in a manner befitting t-liu solemnity of the occasion, and that. t:iose irxtreine but salutary Is. 33011s in piuiisumenfc of crime may be administered £<> that they will create an awe-inspiring effect, and not degen late into mere exhibitions of brutal inhumanity.