A WOMAN EXECUTED AT MANCHESTER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2218, 25 September 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

A WOMAN EXECUTED AT MANCHESTER.

The sentence of death passed at the recent Manchester assizes on the woman Mary Ann Britland, of Ashton- underLyne, who was convicted of having poisoned a woman named Mary Dixon> was carried into effect on Monday morning, August 9th, at the prison, Strangoways, Mancheater. Since she was committed to prison under sentence of death the woman had been in a very depressed condition, and her depression increased when the Home Secretary's letter arrived to tell her that Hhe must abandon all hope of a reprieve. During her imprisonment she was visited by many of her relatives, three of whom, including her daughter, had a most affecting interview with her on Saturday. It is stated that to some of her relatives she made a full and free confession of the crime of which she s*ood convicted, and on being asked whether hhe had also "done away with" her husband and daughter, she hung her head and did not deny it. ' The cell in which Britland was confined was regularly visited by the prison chaplain, the Rev. John Dreaper, whose ministrations were received mont gratefully. At the end of last week she made ft request that Canon Whittaker, formerly of Leesfield parish and now of Lincolnshire, should be sent for. Cannon Whittaker, she stated, was the clergyman who christened her, and she afterwards attended the church with which he was cobnested. The prison ■ authorities sent accordingly for the canon/ who arrived on Saturday and hdd an interview of two hours' duration with the condemned woman. In her last hours the prisoner was 1 much excited. She ate scarcely anything on Sunday night, and at midnight and during the small hours of Monday morning she was heard moaning heavily and singing snatches of >hymns. In the morning, wheu the warders entered the cell to prepare her for execution, she looked wearied and excited, and she had no appetite for such refreshments as were offered to her. With as little delay as possible the executioner, Berry, of Bradford, had her pinioned, and the customary procession started for the scaffold, which is erected in the south-west corner of the prison. Heading the proees3ion. came the prison chaplain, reading the prayers. He was followed by the prisoner, supported by two female warders, with two male warders in the rear, and behind them walked Major Preston, the governor of the prison ; the prison surgeon [(Dr. Braddon); the under-sheriff (Mr ! Hughes), and Mr Isaac W. Bout ton, a justice of the peace of Ashton, who was present by permission of the High Sheriff. As the procession left the cell iv which the prisoner had been confined one of the warders took up a position on the roadway a short distance from the scaffold, in order to see that the sentence was properly carried into effect ; a little further away stood the representatives of the Press. Save the tolling of the prison bell and the screaming of the poor woman who was being led to execution, nothing was heard or Eeen for a minute or two by those who were waiting. As the procession approached thescaft'old the voiceof the chaplain was drowned by the prisoner's appeals to God for mercy. " Oh, Lord, have mercy." " Oh, forgive me, forgive me," she cried, piteoualy. A few minutes sufficed to bring the procession along the covered way connecting the cells with the scaffold, and the prisoner who looked thin and pale, was still shrieking with such voice as was left to her. It was feared that there would be a hcene on the *caffo)d, but it wa* not so. As soon as the prisoner had been placed under the beam her face was covered in the usual manner, the rope was put round her neck, and at a given signal from the executioner the two female warders let go their hold of the prisoner. The bolt was then drawn, aud in an instant the woman was hanging at the. end of the rope, dead. The length of the drop was seven feet. The hoisting of the black flag informed the crowd outside that the prisoner had suffered the last penalty of the law. The great interest of the public in the tragedy of which this was the last act was shown by the dimensions of the crowd that gathered outside the prison walls, and additional interest was imparted to the execution by the circumstance that Biitiand is said to be the first woman who has been hanged in Manchester. Several women had been sentenced to death iv the city, but not until Monday had one been executed. If an opinion may be formed from the remarks that were being made in the crowd, very little rugret is entertained that the woman Britland's career should have been thus terminated. The crime for which Mrs Britlaud has paid the full penalty of the law was of a very extraordinary character. At the beginning of the year she resided at Ashton with her husband and two grown-up daughters, and near them lived Thomas Dixon and his wife. A close intimacy seemed to exist between the two families, and Mrs Britland was often seen in the company of Dixon, and on one occassion went on a, journey to Oldham in his company. In March last Mrs Britland's daughter, who was engaged to be married, became suddenly ill. and died in great agony. Karly in May Mrs Britland's husband died under similar circumstances, and a fortnight after Mrs Dixon suddenly became ill and succumbed. Various rumours were circulated, and on the police making injuries they found that Mrs Britland had been a frequent purchaser of " mouse powder." The symptoms before death and an investigation of the bodies of the deceased led to the belief that they had been poisoned. After the death of Mrs Dixon, Mrs Britland seems to have beeu greatly alarmed, and in a conversation with Mr Law, a coffre tavern keeper, asked him " If they could tell if a person had been poisoned ?" and "If they could discover if the person had had mouse powder ?" The police apprehended Mrs Britland, and also Thomas Dixon, the husband of the deceased woman, but Dixon was subsequently discharged. When being sentenced to death Mrs Britland strongly protested her innocence, and said she had not giveu poison to Mrs Dixon.