THE WAGGA MURDER EXECUTION OF REILLY.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 421, 20 November 1889, Page 3

THE WAGGA MURDER EXECUTION OF REILLY.

Thomas Rkiua*, the murderer of Epple, was executed at Wagga on the morning of Wednesday la=t. The time arranged for the gloomy ceremony was 9 o'clock, but a delay occurred through having to wait for the visiting surgeon to the gaol, Dr. Wren. Tho3e present numbered 15 in all, including the police, the under-sherift, and the gaol officials. A small crowd assembled outside the gaol wall, but were unable to see nny of the proceedings. Reilly, after having been pinioned, walked from hia cell, carrying a crucifix in his hand, between Fathers Gallagher and Kennedy, the former reading. He advanced steadily up the steps with the hangman, Robert Howard, and his assistant. Father Gallagher read the final prayer, during the com fie of vhich Reilly looked towards the sky over the gaol wall, and once glanced at those present. He was very firm and bore up remarkably well. He did not evince tho least sign of fear. When the white cap was pub on, the prie3ta shook hands with Reilly. The rope was fixed quickly, and Howard gave his assistant a signal by nodding his head, but the latter seemed unprepared. The executioner again nodded, when the assistant pulled a lever,,.and Reilly disappered down tho drop,' which was of 9ft. There was not the least semblance of a strugele or twitch. The head quickly fell on one side, and one groan was heard. Blood from the nose marked the cap. After the usual lapse of time the doctor found that the pulse" had stopped and that there was nos>igri N of life. The rope was 3iin in circumference.' . Reilly, who is a cousin to the notorious Ned and Dan Kelly, stated that a sister of hi 3 is now in prison in Victoria What little property Reilly left will be sent to his brother at Bolton. Two hundred and fifty pounds has been received in aid of Epple's family, and it is very probable that this sum will be augmented by £50. The gaoler, Mr Adair, speaks of Reilly as the quietest and most easily- managed condemned man he ever had charge of during 20 years' experience. He had given no trouble of any kind since he entered the gaol, showing a ready disposition to comply with all regulations, and never indulging in any grumbling. That he richly deserved his fate ho frankly admitted, and in the last interview with his brother about a fortnight ; ago ho said he hoped no effort would be I made nor any plea put forward to obtain a j remission of the death penalty. He would, he said, much prefer dying on the scaffold to weating out his life as a convict.

A shoemaker hung out a new sign, and then wondered what papers by found so •musing. His sign ran as follows : • Don't go elsewhere to be cheated. Wa'k in here.' Why is a schoolmaster like a man who was formerly a carpenter '! — Because, he is an explainer,