HOW SEDDON WAS SENTENCED TO DEATH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 201, 4 May 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

HOW SEDDON WAS SENTENCED TO DEATH.

COXVK'TED MAX CLASPS WOMAN J.V A PA/SSIOXATK EAIUUAI'K. "1 declare before the (,'reat Architect of the I'niverse, if these arc the last words 1 should utter, that I am not guilty of the diabolical crime for which I have just been convicted."— Ncddon's last protest. The most remarkable and dramatic •scenes marked the dose at the Old Bailey of the arsenic poisoning murder case, in which .Miss Harrow, an elderly spinster, was murdered, and which ended in the verdict: J Frederick Henry Seddon, guilty; Mar-, garet Ann Seddon, his wife, not'guilty: ' Seddon was sentenced to death and his wife, of course, released at once. Jt is many years since such a sight has been witnessed, and in its way" it was as dramatic as when Milsom 'and Fowler fought like wild beasts in the dock of the old building after being sentenced. If not even more unusaf, for following the quiet, level proceedings of the ten days' trial, it was so unexpected. Those who filled the Old Bailey, until it resembled a sort of Black Hole, will never forget the. last amazing scenes. It was drama, deep and terrible; and it was also vivid life. It all happened within one short hour, but the vital intensity which was compressed into it will long affect those who witnessed it. I THE LAST HOURS. The last hours of the long, wearying trial had been reached. The scales of justice had been weighted with evidence for and against the man, and the woman: together they, the lite partners, -t.ood up to face justice, grim, inexorable.

At four o'clock the jury retired to eon- 1 sider the verdict. They had listened) with the gravest and closest attention to the final words of Mr. Justice Bueknill, who was already showing signs of the effect of the painful case was having on him, and they filed out with set, grave faces. Up to this moment the Seddons had been behaving very much as they had been doing all along. Both seemed to have recovered from the strain of their severe cross examination. Indeed, Mrs Seddon had come into the dock earlier in the day with her habitual smile ota her face. { Through the concluding stages of the Attorney-General's cold and frigid speech I in which he kept repeating with terrible iteration, the terrible charges, Seddon had moved himself comfortably on his seat andhad twisted the ends of his waxed moustache. Mrs Seddon had shown little life,, though she glanced from time to time | rather nervously at her husband. WAITING FOR THE JURY.

After the jury retired at four there followed a long blank period, which was given over to open speculation as to what would happen. An hour passed. Another five minutes. And then there came that indefinite, mysterious stir which tells that something is happening. A minute or two more—and the last grim scene had begun. In a heavy, intense hush, which no one would have voluntarily broken, the jury filed back, with an exaggerated rattling and shuffling of boots. The Seddons appeared at the head of the dock stairs and slowly walked to the front. Three terribly long minutes of waiting, while the Judge was summoned, and then the jury's foreman spoke the fateful words. "Guilty," said the foreman in hushed but firm and steady tones. Almost before the clerk could ask him with regard to Mrs Seddon, the foreman had replied, thankfully, as it seemed. "Not guilty." The effect on Seddon was peculiar, Directly he heard the fatal words pronounced, his jaw closed with an almost audible snap, and he gripped the dock rail with both hands, so that the knuckles showed white through. Mrs Seddon did not seem to realise what had happened. She stood leaning rather helplessly against the front of the big dock. Mr Justice Bueknill looked at her and looked away again. "Take her away," he said, with his hands across his eyes, "tell her she is discharged." At these words Seddon, who had been staring fixedly at the Judge, turned like' lightning and almost leapt at his wife, getting his arms round her. He held her in a bear-like hug, and before the warders could interfere he had given her three or four smacking kisses, which could be herd all over the court. Then he drew back again. Mrs Seddon stumbled and collapsed where she stood with a moan heartrending to hear. Seddon turned away, hiding his face in his hands as she was led, stumbling, to the dock stairs. Her pitiful sobs could be heard all down the steps and for some time after she had disappcred from view Mr Justice Bueknill never looked at all. The .ladies in the gallery scarcely seemed to be breathing. JUDGE'S EMOTION. After his wife had left. Seddon continued his fixed stare at the Judge. Mr Justice Bueknill seemed to be feeling his position more and more, and, feeling; for something to linger, fingered by accident the Black Cap.' Then the Clerk of Arraigns asked Seddon, "Have you anything to say why the Court should not pass sentence of death, according to law?" . Seddon at once braced himself, and with a hearty, almost jaunty voice, replied, "I have, sir." Pulling a paper from his pocket he then proceeded to make a speech which lasted twenty minutes. Many people had already started to leave the court, never anticipating anything of the kind. It is safe to say that some of the officials did. As Seddon moved on. influent language from point to point, one forgot that it was a man who had been condemned to death, and who was making a last fight for his life. Counsel turned and looked at him as though fascinated. It was a uni(|iie spectacle. Throughout it all Mr Justice Bueknill looked at him with the saddest expression on a human countenance it is possible to conceive. SEDDON'S PASSTOXATE OUTBURST. "I do not know," began Seddon in the easy, calm tone, of a 'practised speaker, "whether what T have to say can in any way affect the verdict that is about to be passed upon me." And he then proceeded to review the whole ease from start to finish, just as though it were the most usual thing for a prisoner to -urn up as well as the Judge. It seemed as if he spoke for hours, though his speech was all over in twenty minutes. At times he made dramatic gestures. On the first occasion he raised both his arms over his head and cried, "1 am surrounded by a set of circumstances from which there seems to be no wav of extricating myself." Another passionate outburst wa< when he said, speaking in the bitterest tones: "If she (Miss Barrow) had fallen out of the window it would have been Mr Seddon who had done it; if she had fallen

downstairs and died it would have been Alv Seddon; if she had fallen into the sen at Southend it would have lieen Mr Scddon who pushcU her in!"

THE MASOXJC SIGN. Finally, when ho made his declaration of innocence before "the Great Architect of the Universe." he raised his hand, pointed aloft, and gave a Masonic sign. This did not, escape Mr .Tuslice Bucknill. who is Provincial (Irani! Master of Surrey. Apparently it increased his emotion. Indeed, perhaps the nio-1, painful sight of all in this painful scene of the last episode was Mr Justice Bucknill trying to pass tlie death sentence. Me was affected at the beginning of his short speech to Seddon, and grew more and more so a3 he proceeded. Tears were in hU eyes and there was a hreak in his voice when he made the allusion, "We both belong to the same Brotherhood." lie began—though he spoke so gravely and in so low a voice, that it was difficult to catch all he did say—by saying that he agreed with the verdict. His own opinion was that the motive was greed of gold. Then he paused a little, and, in a pained voice, said: "It is not for me to unduly harrow your feelings." At once Seddon braced himself together, "It doesn't affect my feelings," he said in perfectly outspoken and even tones, "I have a perfectly clear conscience." I

Mr Justice Bucknill looked at him sadly, and went on: "I invite you to make your peace." "I am already at peace," interposed Seddon quickly. Then came the last grim formality—the ancient ceremony of putting on the black cap, which, though a mere formality, yet seems to be more terrible than the sentence itself, in its final suggestion of the last hope gone. Mr Justice Bucknill was so upset that he was unable to put the cap on properly, and the clerk' had to help him. When he came to "And may the Lord have mercy on your soul." he broke down entirely. Those who had been in court entered the laughing, bustling street* again feeling that they had returned to a world which ihey had left many years before. JUDGE TN TEAItS. After donning the black cap Mr Justice Bucknill. in a low voice:— Frederick Henry Seddon, you have been found guilty of the wilful murder of Eliza Mary Barrow. With that verdict I am bound to say I agree. I should have been more terribly pained if I thought that I, in my charge to the jury, had stated anything against you that was not supported by the evidence. But even if what you say is strictly correct, and that there is no evidence, that you were left at material time alone in the room with the deceased person, there is still, in my opinion, ample evidence to show that you had an opportunity of putting poison into her food or into her medicine. GREED OF GOLD.

You had a motive for this crime. That motive was the greed of gold. Whether it was that you wanted to put an end to the annuities or not. I do not know —you only can know. Whether it was to get the gold that was or was not. but which you thought was. in the cash-box I do not know. But I do know this, that you wanted to make great pecuniary profit by felonious means. This charge has been described by yourself in the box as one, if made out against you, as one of barbdrity—a murder designed, a cruel murder. It is not for me to harrow your feelings Prisoner (calmly): It does not affect me. I have a clear conscience. I The Judge: T have very little more to say. except that you have .had a very fair and patient trial. Your learned counsel has done everything that counsel could do. The Attorney-General has conducted the ease with remarkable fairness, and the jury have shown you a patience and intelligence I have never seen exceeded. Here His Lordship displayed visible

signs of emotion, and there werp tfaw in his eves as well as a break in his voice as he went on:— We both belong to the same Brotherhood, and it is very painful for me to have to say what T am saying. But our Brotherhood does not encourage crime; on the contrary, it condemns it. MERCY, PRAY FOR IT, ASK FOR TT. I pray you again to make your peace with the Great Architect of the Universe. Mercy, pray for it. ask for it. , It may be some consolation to you to know that I agree with the verdict of the jury in regard to your wife. Whatever she has done that was blameworthy in this ease, it was short of any criminal offence. It may be that she dealt improperly with these notesPrisoner (quickly): She did not deal improperly. The Judge did heed the interruption. "I am satisfied," he said, "that the jury have done well and rightfully in acquitting her. lam satisfied that they have done justice to you." His Lordship then passed .sentence of death in the usual way, and there was not a person in court who was not affected as he saw the Judge's tears.