EXECUTION OF JONES.

West Coast Times, Issue 180, 17 April 1866, Page 2

EXECUTION OF JONES.

(From the Otago Daily Times.)

A second •"criminal has been hanged in Otago. John Jones, alias Poole, alias King, was put to death at eleven o'clock yesterday forenoon, within he Dunedin Gaol, for the murder of Richard Atkinson, at Waipori, on the 23rd December. Tho convict maintained during his last night of existence the' same calm bearing which he showed from the time of his conviction. His conduct was throughout composed. He listened attentively to the exhortations of the Rev. Mr Smith, chaplin to the gaol, and the Rev. ll* Connebee, whom ho desired to see as soon as ho was told that ho was to be executed. He declared himself to be, and ho appeared to be, most sorry for his crime. He denied that he had any intention of killing poor Richard Atkinson. Ho had drunk to great excess, he said, on the day previous to and on the morning of tho murder ; he was in a state of delirium tremens : and he did not know what he had done, until he was told of it next day when taken into custody. The convict went to bed at eleven o'clock on Thursday night, and slopt soundly until seven yesterday morning. The Roys. Messrs Connebee and Smith were with him almost uninterruptedly from that time until the end. He wept as he listened to their exhortations and their prayers ; and he repeated, in substance, that when ho stabbed Atkinson ho was mad from tho effects of drink, and that he did not know until the day after what he had dono. A few minutes before eleven o'clock the Sheriff Avent to the cell, and demanded " the body of John Jones, for execution." The convict walked out into the day-room and the hangman walked in. Disguised in a much worn dirty prison jacket or smock frock, his face hidden by a black calico mask and a tattered old grey felt hat, tho minister of the law looked simply repulsive. But ho did his work handily. Tho convict, when ho camo into the room, saw one of the warders, to whom he turned with something liko a flush of welcome and thankfulness, and advancing, grasped the warder's hand. He did not speak. He stood passively, but quito firmly, while being pinioned. And during that time, he was addressed by Mr Connobce. He was evidontly a man of very sluggish intellect and stolid tcm]:«ram.ent — to bo affected, but only by tho most simplo and direct earnestness. Said tho reverend gentleman, " There is a beautiful hymn, from whioh many havo got eolufort. If you wish, I will repeat to you a vorao of it." And ho said tho vorso beginning, "Jesus, lovor of my soul, let mo to Thy bosom fly," « Oh ! receivo my spul, at last!"

repeated the minister, " that is a, most fitting' 1 prayer for you now!"' Tho pinioning had, meanwhile, been completed, and the dress of death completed, by the putting on of tho linen cap, and tho removal of the neckerchief and collar; tho hangman boing still an expert workman. The Rev. R Connebee commenced the burial service ; and while the little Gaol bell clanked, the short procession started for the gallows. It is but a brief walk in Dunedin Gaol! The convict walked steadily, and placed himself on tho drop. What remained to be done was soon dono ; and tho bolt was drawn. Tlio officers of the gaol wero on the scaffold with tho ministers ; and there was, perhaps, a score of speotators in tho yard. There wero but slight evidences of musoulav spasm, as the body hung ; but moro than an ordinary tinio passed bofore tho Provincial surgeon was satisfied that pulsation had ceased. It is inexpressibly horrible to sec a man go to a violent and an infamous death, as John Jones went. There he is, a strong stoutly built man, who has probably never known, as a man, what illness means. He is not "dying game," as it is called in the slang of thieves and ruffians. There is not a trace of bravado about him. Ho is probably as sorry that he has killed a fellow-being, as it is consistent with his nature that he should bo sorry for anything. But there are no evidences that he realises either the guilt of amurderer, or the infamy of the punishment to which man's law has doomed him. He has to die : and in tho »arrowest acceptation of that phrase ho " realises his position." Nothing more. Try to think of what he is thinking. Before you can begin, almost, there he dangles in a hole, dead, with the hangman tugging at his thong-bound legs, and his face twisted round and upturned as far as the cord will allow it to turn, presenting a hideous mask to the sunlight. How hideous that linen mask is — how terribly worse than the sight of the naked face of one who has died tho most agonising death — those only know who have stood upon a scaffold, and have thought of the poor hanged wretch apart from the crime for which he has been executed. The following declaration, as required by the Exeoution of Criminals' Ordinance, was signed : — " We hereby testify and declare that we have this day been present when the extreme penalty of the law was carried into execution on the body of John Jones, convicted at the Criminal Sessions of the Supreme Court, held at Dunedin, on the sth day of March last, and sentenced to death ; and that the said John Jones was, in pursuance of the said sentence, hanged by the neck until his body was dead. " A. Chetham Strode, Sheriff. " J. St.odda.kt, Gaoler. " J. Caldwell, Chief Warder. " Robert Chapman, J.P. " E. Fox, ' Daily Times.' " W. J. Henningham, Ed. ' Evening Star.' " Robert Howxison. " W. B. Thomson, Detective Officer. " Godfrey Jacob*. " John Curle. " Patrick M'Donjlld. " TOUISSANX LA GniF. " John Hughes." At half-past three o'clock, an iuquost was held in tho gaol, by Mr T. M. Hockon, coroner j and after the jury had viewed the body, the following evidence was given : — Alfred Chatham Strode : lam Sheriff of tho district and Provinco of Otago. On Tuesday, the 3rd April, at eleven o'clock in the morning, I received the document I produce, signed " G. Grey, Governor of New Zealand," and countersigned, " E. W. Stafford," intimating to me that the Governor saw " no reason to interfere to prevent the law from taking its oourse, in respect of one John Jones, convicted on the sth March last, of the crime of murder, at the Criminal Sitting of the Supreme Court, Otago and Southland district, held before C. W. Richmond, Esq., a Judge of the Supreme Court. I this day saw the warrant carried into effect, in conformity with an Act of the General Assembly, providing that sentence shall be executed within three days of the sheriff's receipt of intimation that his Excellency will not interfere. I was present to-day, at eleven o'clock, and saw the sentence of death carried into effect within this gaol. (The warrant was read.) Edward Hulmo, Provincial Surgeon and Medical Officer to the gaol : I knew the deceased. I was present in one of the yards of the gaol this morning, at eleven o'olock, and I saw John Jones, the deceased, hanged by the neck until he was dead. I have since seen the dead body, and recognise it as that of John Jones. A verdict was returned that the deceased had been hanged by tho neck until dead, in due course of law. John Jones came to Otago, from England, as a seaman on board the Star of Tasmania, about eighteen months ago. He is believed to have been bom id Liverpool. Ho had shipped only for the voyage out ; and as soon as he was discharged, ho went up to the Tuapeka district, whore he worked as a digger, generally as what is known as a " fossicker." For a timo, ho lived with a woman called " Gummy" Jaokson, who kept a shanty on tho Lamraerlaw tangos ; but ho had left her for some weeks prior to tho 23rd December, the day of tho murder. Ho had been " hard up" for a while, and when apprehended he had but 6d. . Tho memorial which was sont to the Governor, praying for a commutation of the sentence of death, contained, as we understand, the statement, thai when

Jones committed tho murder he was suffering from " delirium tremens." As we havo already said, Jones several times repeated that statement to the ministers of religion who saw him after his conviction; and he adhered to it until just before his death. Yet, in justice, it must be published that all the evidence that could be procured by the most diligent inquiry, goes to prove the falseness of that statement. There was, we believe, an official search for evidence, because of what appeared in the memorial. Tho results shown were these: — Jonest was not in tho habit of drinking spirits ; he very rarely tasted them. He was sober on the 21st December. At midnight on the 22nd December, a man who had given him a lift towards Atkinson's accommodation house, parted with him, and he is convinced that Jones was then sober. That he was sober on the morning of the 23rd, was the evidence at the trial ; as it was also, that at Atkinson's house he had no spirits, and only three or four glasses of beer during the night of the 22nd, and up to the committal of the murder on the 23rd. That he " did not know what ho had done" — in the sense of being ignorant that he had fatally wounded Atkinson — until he was told of it, when arrested, is inferrible from the evidence at the trial | and that he meant to disable Atkinson, so as to be able to rob the store, and not to kill him, may be true, without lessening the convict's just liability to the doom of tho murderer, which he has now suffered. v