THE EXECUTION OF O'FARRELL.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 241, 9 May 1868, Page 3

THE EXECUTION OF O'FARRELL.

(From the Argus, April 22.) Sydney, Tuesday. The extreme penalty of the law was carried out this morning at Darlinghurst Gaol, on Henry James O'Parrell condemned to death for the attempted murder of the Duke of Edinburgh* The doomed man passed the night in his usual manner, and did not appear to suffer from any nervous excitability at his approaching fate. He was attended at an early hour by a minister of the religious persuasion to which he belonged, and to his ministrations and the attention paid to them may perhaps be attributed in a great measure the calm self-possession with which the unhappy man met his fate. Precisely at nine o'clock, the sheriff demanded his body, and O'Farrell appeared at the cell door in obedience to the summons. He submitted to the process of pinioning without a murmur, and walked unconcernedly to the foot of the scaffold. Here he knelt with the priest, and for a few moments was engaged in religious devotion. He theu mounted the ladder with a firm step, and before taking his place under the drop, looked up apparently at the rope and fatal beam overhead. He then took his place directly under it, and looked up again in a very composed manner; but whether vacantly looking up at the dread engine of death, or making a last appeal to Heaven for mercy can only be conjectured. He, however, appeared thoroughly resigned to his fate. The cap was then adjusted over his face ; he shook hands with the priest; the drop fell, and the last act of the Clontarf tragedy was over. A single contraction of the leg was the only visible sign of suffering, and death appeared to be instantaneous. After hanging the prescribed time, the body was taken down.

O'Farrell's body was not claimed by his friends. He bad written a statement, to be opened after bis deatb, and it is now in the hands of the Colonial Secretary who has declined to submit it to the Assembly before the Executive has considered it, A long debate in the House of Assembly followed. Mr Parkes's conduct respecting O'Farrell was much censured by the Opposition. The Government had made extensive preparations to preserve the peace and prevent any demonstration. A large body of police were posted in and about the gaol, and the volunteers guarded the armoury. Everything, however passed off with the greatest solemnity and decorum.