"The trial on the part of the prosecution being closed, and the
prisoner not having any witness to call, the learned judge carefully
summed up the evidence to the jury, who after a few minutes returned
a verdict of guilty.
"His Lordship then passed the awful sentence of the law upon the
prisoner, which was done by the learned judge in the most solemn and
impressive manner, entreating him to make the best use of his time,
and to prepare himself during the short period he had to live, for
the great change he was about to undergo.
"Since his condemnation he conducted himself with greater sobriety
than he had manifested before his trial; but his temper was
obstinate, and his mind lamentably ignorant: and being totally
unacquainted with religious considerations, he exhibited very
imperfect signs of real penitence, and but little anxiety respecting
his future state. He acknowledged the crime for which he was about
to suffer the sentence of the law, but was reluctantly induced to
pronounce his forgiveness of the young woman who was the principal
evidence against him.
"At 12 o'clock yesterday he was brought upon the drop in front of
the County gaol, and after a short time occupied in prayer with the
chaplain (who had previously attended him with the most unremitting
and tender assiduity), he was launched into eternity. He met his
fate with a firmness which would deserve the praise of fortitude if
it was not the result of insensibility. He appeared but little
agitated or dejected by his dreadful situation.
"Let the hope be encouraged that his example may operate as a
warning to those among the multitude of spectators, who might not
before feel all the horror with which vice ought to be regarded.
When wickedness is thus seen not in its allurements, but in its
consequences, its true nature is evidenced. It is always the
offspring of ignorance and folly, and the parent of long enduring
misery.
"Before the Judge left the town, he directed that the body of
Lingard should be hung in chains in the most convenient place near
the spot where the murder was committed, instead of being dissected
and anatomized."
The treasurer's accounts for Derbyshire, for 1815-16, show, says Dr.
Cox, that the punishment of gibbeting involved a serious inroad on the
county finances. The expenses for apprehending Anthony Lingard amounted
to L31 5s. 5d., but the expenses incurred in the gibbeting reached a
total of L85 4s. 1d., and this in addition to ten guineas charged by the
gaoler for conveying the body from Derby to Wardlow.[17]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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