138. _Execution under singular Circumstances._--I have read somewhere,
but failed to "make a note of it" at the time, an anecdote of a singular
occurrence at Winchester, to the following effect.
Some years ago a man was apprehended near ----, in Hampshire, charged
with a capital offence (sheep-stealing I believe). After being examined
before a justice of the peace, he was committed to the county gaol at
Winchester for trial at the ensuing assizes. The evidence against the
man was too strong to admit of any doubt of his guilt; he was
consequently convicted, and sentence of death (rigidly enforced for this
crime at the period alluded to) pronounced. Months and years passed
away, but no warrant for his execution arrived. In the interval a marked
improvement in the man's conduct and bearing became apparent. His
natural abilities were good, his temper mild, and his general desire to
please attracted the attention and engaged the confidence of the
governor of the prison, who at length employed him as a domestic
servant; and such was his reliance on his integrity, that he even
employed him in executing commissions not only in the city, but to
places at a great distance from it. After a considerable lapse of time,
however, the awful instrument, which had been inadvertently concealed
among other papers, was discovered, and at once forwarded to the high
sheriff, and by the proper authority to the unfortunate delinquent
himself. My purpose is brief relation only; suffice it to say the
unhappy man is stated under these affecting circumstances to have
suffered the last penalty of the law.
Query, Can any of your readers inform me if this extraordinary story is
founded on fact?