EXECUTION OF O'DONNELL.

Manawatu Times, Volume X, Issue 1151, 15 January 1884, Page 3

EXECUTION OF O'DONNELL.

Patrick O'Donneil, the murderer of the. informer Carey, paid the penalty within the walls of Newgate on the ■- morning of December 17. The dropsfell precisely at 8 o'clock. On the 7 previous night O'Donneil ■went to bej^ about ten, and remained apparently asleep till 5.30. At 6 the priest came, and the prisoner remained m prayer for sometime. At the conclusion of prayers the sacranieni was administered. O'Donneil partook of a light breakfast which tie appeared to eat with relish. At 7.45 the prison bell began tolling, and a simitar warning was sent from the helfry at St Sepulchre's Church, ©uHoibo^n Viaduct. Directly after this the governor of the gaol! with thehead warder, entered, and O'Donneil was at *once led to the pinioning room.' .-Halfway, between the condemned cell and the prison yard they found executioner Binns awaiting, together with, the Sheriff of 3Jondo,n, three warders and the prison doctor. Binns bound O'DonuelPs arms with leather thongs, O'Donneil submitting; The procession then-formed with the prisoner m the centre, and they quietly marched to the prison yard, passingclose to the few spectators, who admitted that they could have touched O'Donneil hut for the lattice work which separated them. The scaffold he quickly peached, and the noose hung ominously from the cross beam alone, rhe scaffold was lialf boarded up, so that O'Donnell's attendants were seen by. those present only from the^waist up. Binh lost not a moment iii 'placing the white cap over hisjyictim's face and m adjusting the^bose, and a moment after O'Donneil disappeared, a quivering cord being all that remained to show where be had stood. The governor, and doctor gazed a- moment into the cellar, jtHe pit m which his body was flwung^ and then hurried away. Out» side ihe gaol a considerable crowd was assembled, but they dispersed directly the black flag was hoisted. Twenty police were detailed inside the gaol, and constables were posted around' the walls outside. The body of O'Donneil, after hanging an hour, was cut down, and later in' the day Tthe inquest was held, the usual verdict being returned. The remains were interred m quicklime, tinder one of the flags m the corridor known as " Bird cage wait." While being pinioned O'Donneil smiled, and seemed indifferent to his approaching'fate. He expressed to the Governor his regrets for the scene^he had made m the dock after being sentenced. He walked firmly to the. scaffold. His death was in* stantaneous, the fall being 8 fe t. His brother was not admitted to witness the execution, but remained outside praying excitedly. The morning waf. wet and gloomy; the crowd ground the gaol was quiet. Strenuous efforts were made, especiallyrby the Irish Americans, to procure a mitigation, or at . least a respite, and delegations waited on President Arthur 'to ask that the Unit^*ySt»tes, should interfere m tbe naatter, which was accordingly dotfe' through the Minister, Mr Lowell, m London. The New York Tribune'and the Post have only lan* guage of the strongest censure on the-subj^ct, charging the President with yielding to Irish clamor, and thus putting himself, m an absurd position* <^Outside the Irish Ameri* can element: m the United States there is ho feeling m the matter wh^teyer.y Such American news« papers as discuss the sentence and its execution admit its justice.