A History of the Cries of London, Ancient and ModernHindley, Charles
History
A History of the Cries of London, Ancient and Modern
Hindley, Charles
Cries -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs
At half past seven the sheriff arrived in his carriage, and in a short
time the press-yard was thronged with gentlemen who had been admitted
by tickets. The unhappy convict was now led from his cell. When he
arrived in the press-yard, his whole appearance pourtrayed the utmost
misery and spirit-broken dejection; his countenance haggard, and his
whole frame agitated; all that self-possession and fortitude which he
displayed in the early part of his imprisonment, had utterly forsaken
him, and had left him a victim of hopelessness and despair. He
requested the executioner to give him as little pain as possible in
the process of pinioning his arms and wrists; he uttered not a word in
allusion to his crime; neither did he make any dying request, except
that his spectacles might be given to Sarah Gale; he exhibited no sign
of hope; he showed no symptom of reconciliation with his offended God!
When the venerable ordinary preceded him in the solemn procession
through the vaulted passage to the fatal drop, he was so overcome and
unmanned, that he could not support himself without the aid of the
assistant executioner. At the moment he ascended the faithless floor,
from which he was to be launched into eternity, the most terrific
yells, groans, and cheers were vociferated by the immense multitude
surrounding the place of execution. Greenacre bowed to the sheriff,
and begged he might not be allowed to remain long in the concourse;
and almost immediately the fatal bolt was withdrawn, and, without a
struggle, he became a lifeless corse.--Thus ended the days of
Greenacre, a man endowed with more than ordinary talents, respectably
connected, and desirably placed in society; but a want of probity, an
absolute dearth of principle, led him on from one crime to another,
until at length he perpetrated the sanguinary deed which brought his
career to an awful and disgraceful period, and which has enrolled his
name among the most notorious of those who have expiated their crime
on the gallows.
On hearing the death-bell toll, Gale became dreadfully agitated; and
when she heard the brutal shouts of the crowd of spectators, she
fainted, and remained in a state of alternate mental agony and
insensibility throughout the whole day.
After having been suspended the usual time, his body was cut down, and
buried in a hole dug in one of the passages of the prison, near the
spot where Thistlewood and his associates were deposited.
J. Catnach, Printer, 2 and 3, Monmouth Court.
The following is a fac-simile of the "Execution Paper," from the press of
Paul and Co.,--successors of Catnach.
TRIAL, SENTENCE, CONFESSION, & EXECUTION OF
F. B. COURVOISIER,
FOR THE Murder of Lord Wm. Russell.
THE VERDICT.
Old Bailey, Saturday Evening,
_June 20th, 1840_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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