The hardihood which he had displayed hitherto, however, deserted him when he entered his cell, and then he wept bitterly. When his mother visited him on Sunday afternoon, he accused her of being the cause of bringing him to his “present scrape.” On Sunday evening, after the condemned sermon had been preached by the reverend chaplain, he made a full confession of his guilt. His statement did not materially differ from that which was given on the trial; but he added some particulars of the conduct of his victim before he murdered him, which make the blood run cold. He said that when he sprang upon Taylor with the knife in his hand, the poor boy, aware of his murderous intention, fell upon his knees before him, offered him all the money he had, his knife, his cap, and whatever else he liked—said he would love him during the whole of his life, and never tell what had happened to any human being, if he would spare him. This pathetic appeal was lost on the murderer, and, without making any answer to it, he struck the knife into his throat.
At half-past eleven o’clock on Monday morning, the solemn peals of the prison-bell announced the preparations for the execution. After the operation of pinioning had been completed, the culprit, attended by the chaplain, walked steadily to the platform. When he appeared there, he gazed steadily around him; but his eye did not quail, nor was his cheek blanched. After the rope was adjusted round his neck, he exclaimed in a firm and loud tone of voice, “Lord have mercy upon us. Pray, good Lord, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us. All the people before me, take warning by me!” Having been asked if he had anything further to say, he repeated the same words, and added, “Lord have mercy upon my poor soul.” At the appointed signal, the bolt was withdrawn, and in a minute or two the wretched malefactor ceased to exist. The remainder of his sentence was also carried out, his body being given to the surgeons of Rochester for dissection.
There were not fewer than eight thousand persons present at his execution.
RIOTS AT MERTHYR TYDVIL.
THESE riots, as alarming in their nature as they were distressing and mischievous in their consequences, occurred at Merthyr Tydvil, in South Wales, on the 3rd of June, 1831. The district surrounding Merthyr Tydvil was, at that time, as it is now, densely populated by persons engaged in the iron manufactories, with which that district abounds; and the alleged insufficiency of the wages was the immediate cause of the desperate riot which took place.
The preliminary to this distressing occurrence, it appears, was a turn-out, or strike, among the workmen; and the alarming manner in which these men assembled, and the threats which they held out, produced a well-grounded apprehension that violence might be done both to the persons and the property of the iron-masters. In order to meet any attack which might be made, the magistrates assembled at the Castle Inn, Merthyr Tydvil, for the purpose of devising means to meet and repel the rioters, and the result was that an application for military assistance was determined on.
A detachment of the ninety-third regiment, under the command of Major Folkes, in consequence proceeded into the town, and on the 3rd of June took up their quarters at the Castle Inn, the chief inn in the town, where the magistrates still remained assembled in consultation.
By this time, the mob had already exhibited its riotous and unlawful determination by an attack upon the Court of Requests. This court, it would appear, had become hateful to them, from its being also the place where usually offences affecting the relations of master and servant were adjudicated upon, and they demanded that the books should be given up to them. This was, of course, refused, as indeed they had been already removed to a secure place; upon which the mob commenced a most violent and determined assault upon the building. The residence of Mr. Coffin, the officer of the court, was also an object of their angry demonstrations; and the two places having been stripped of their books and furniture, a fire was immediately made of them in the street, and they were burned. The lawless and ungovernable character of the assemblage may be inferred from the fact, that many of them perished in the flames which they had themselves kindled.
This done, the rioters proceeded at once to the Castle Inn, there to give fresh proofs of their power and determination. At this time they exceeded a thousand in number, and they were loud in their demands that justice should be done them. A deputation was called in to explain their wants, who respectfully but firmly demanded an increase of wages; but the magistrates, having earnestly desired them to return to their work, pointing out to them that it was impossible that they could suffer themselves to be dictated to by a lawless mob, desired them to retire. Upon their return to their partisans they communicated what had taken place, and symptoms were soon observable in the countenances of all which denoted their determination to proceed to measures even more violent than any they had hitherto adopted.