A MURDERER SENTENCED.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 6, 1 July 1911, Page 10

A MURDERER SENTENCED.

SENSATIONAL SEQUEL TO LIIV'KRWJOL TRAGEDY. ' A gnu'soi ue tragedy enacted in a small house in Oi ecklieid, Liverpool, ou March Id, when, asa eousoqueifce of ft confession made ry Thomas Seymour, a jailor, the bruised and tattered remains of Seymour's wife were discovered by the police, had a. dramatic sequel on Wednesday, April h at tiiu Liverpool As*izes. When thj) case was before, the itipen diary magistrate Seymour behaved in an : extraordinary manner, insisting thai lie should \\c dealt with at once instead of being committed to the higher court. llis conduct ait the Assizes was in keeping with the inhuman callousness which had characterised bis demeanor since the perpetration of the crime.

Thrice during the day he appeared before Mr. Justice Avory. On two occasions he whs put back to afford an apportnnity for reconsidering his plea of guilty. On his third appearance, however, the judge had no alternative but to pass the last dread .sentence of the law, which, having regard to the nontrial and the general demeanor of the accused, was as sensational as it was probably unique in local criminal annals. The prisoner—a bent, white-haired old man of sixty-four—behaved strangely immediately he entered the. dock on his first appearance during the forenoon. When Sir Herbert Stephen (clerk of Assize) read over the charge, he objected that his name was not McKillican but Seymour. "Aro you guilty or not guilty?'' asked the clerk.

"Guilty," replied prisoner, without hesitation.

His Lordship: Do you understand what you are pleading guilty to? Prisoner (gruffly): Certainly, I do. The .lodge: Do you mean that vou intended to take away the life of your wife t

Prisoner: I mean just exactly that 1 killed her. I don't say I murdered her.

- -a you kill her intentionally?—l killed her intentionally. Ilis Lordship (gravely): Do you understand that the only sentence which can he passed upon you for this crime, if you plead guilty to it, is the sentence of death?

"vcrtainly I do," answered the prisoner, with unlliuching callousness. The Judge hesitated for a minute, and then ordered the prisoner to stand down.

Seymour left the dock, apparently undismayed by his terrible admissions and their possible consequences. After the luncheon interval Seymour was again brought into the dock. ' Dr. Arthur Price, medical oflicer at Walton gaol, went into the box. Replying, to his lordship, he said the prisoner had been under his observation since Marci 13.

His Umlship: Have you any reason whatever to suppose that he is not in his right mind, and not capable of understanding what lie is doing? Witness: No. Or the contrary, he quite understands the position in whicti he is placed. You see no reason to doubt his sanity now?— None whatever.

Addressing Mr. Kenyon, a member of the Bar, his lordship requested him to look through the depositions, and afterwards to speak to the prisoner and make sure that he_ understood exactly what was alleged against him. "I only want to be quite certain that he appreciates the character of the plea which he ha* put in," added his lordship. Turning to the prisoner, his lordship said: "Vou may stand down again." Seymour was thereupon again removed to the cells. Later in the afternoon, Seymour came into court for the third, and. as it proved, for the last time. His Lordship (addressing the prisoner): Do you wish still to adhere to your plea of guilty of the wilful murder of your wife?

In clear, ringing (one.", the accused man replied, "Yes." His Lordship: [ understand the learned counsel whom t asked to take up the case for you has seen you and explained •the situation. You thoroughly understand, do you, what you are pleading guilty to? The prisoner, with some annoyance in his voice, answered, "Certainly I do."

"Have you anything to say why the court should not give you judgment of death according to law?" asked the Clerk of Assize. "No, not in the least," was prisoner's reply, given in a tone of bravado. Amid a profound hush the Judge thereupon assumed the black cap, arid, speaking with great solemnity, said: "Thomas Seymour, your plea of guilty to this crime is in accordance with your conduct from the moment that you committed it. I wish T could suppose that there was any atom of remorse which has led you to adopt the course you have taken. I fear it is only a sense of indifference to the horrible crime you have committed, and which you have shown from the moment that you informed the police of what you had done. You have taken away the life of this woman by battering her head in with a hammer, shattering her skull into seventeen pieces, and you gave yourself up to the police with an air of indifference which you still maintain ait this awful moment—because it is an awful moment for you. The law leaves me no option but to pass upon you the sentence of death.

The Judge impressively recited tha terms of the capital sentence, concluding with the prayer, "And may the Lord have mercy on your soul," to which the sheriff's chaplain reverently added, "Amen." The prisoner listened to the dread formula with the utmost atolidity, aid at its close remained standing at the bar, until tie .fudge called to the warders, "Take him away." The doomed man then walked with firm steps out of the dock to the cells below.