THE EXECUTION OF JARVEY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1522, 28 October 1865, Page 3

THE EXECUTION OF JARVEY.

"Wi gftfe the details of the execution, by electric telegraph, a few day* ago. The following further particulars and subsequent proceedings are taken from the Otago Daily TSvmb of October 25:-

At • quarter after twelve o'clock the body was cut down, and was placed in one of the outhouses. What had appeared strongly probable was then made apparent; the death of thfe convict—or rather,* perhaps, the total destruction of sensation—must have been instantaneous. The fall allowed by the rope was fully six feet; and the dislocation of the vertebra of the neck was frightfully complete. It may safely be said that never did the countenance of an executed criminal look more placid than did Jarvey's, as the corpse lay stretched in the outhouse; such perfect composure of the features is, indeed, rare in cases even of natural death. There was not a trace of distortion in any feature, nor any. gign of mental anguish or of bodily pain. The month was closed firmly, but without anything Uke compression of the lips. The appearance of the face caused comment on the part of alt who looked upon it; and there were those whose curiosity was sufficiently morbid to cause them to seek orders from Magistrates, who are, by the Act, authorised to give documents entitling the holders to a view of the corpse of any murderer. THE INQUEST. At three o'clock! an inquest on the body was held by Mr. T. M. Ilocken, coroner, within the Debtor's part of the prison. After having been sworn, the jurors viewed the body, as it lay in the out-house. The Coroner said that the case which the jury had to investigate was one of what the law called justifiable homicide—the killing being proper and according to law. The law required, in the first place, that there should be a legal record of a criminal's execution ; and, in the second place, it required that there should be proof that the execution had been performed by the proper officer, or by his legal deputy. Cases had been known in -which an execution had been performed by persons not legally appointed or deputed ; and in that event, the law considered an execution a murder. Robert Henry Forman : I am Sheriff of the province and district of Otago. On Saturday, the Slst October, about a quarter before twelve o'clock, noon, I received from the chief-clerk in the Postmaster's Department, Dunedin, a warrant signed " G. Grey," and countersigned, " Henry Sewell." It informed me that, in the case of the now deceased William Andrew Jarvey, the Governor saw no reason for preventing the law taking its course, by the execution of the sentence passed upon Jarvey. I produce the warrant. By an Act of the General Assembly, entitled, "The Supreme Court Act, 1860," sec. 8, it is enacted that it shall be the duty of the Sheriff, within three days after receiving notice that tike Governor will not interfere with a sentence of death, to proceed to carry it out. In parsuance of that enactment, I, by virtue of powers vested in me, appointed, by letter of attorney, a person to be my deputy, in carry-' ing out the sentence of death passed on William Andrew Jarvey. I was present today, and saw the same carried out, in due coarse of law, within the gaol of Dunedin. The prisoner had been sentenced to death by Christopher William Richmond, Esq., one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, at the Criminal Sittings of that Court, held in Dunedin, on the 11th and subsequent days of September last. The Coroner read to the jury the warrant and the Bth section of the Supreme Court Act. Edward Hulme: lam Provincial Surgeon, and also Medical Officer of this gaol. I knew the deceased. William Andrew Jarvey. I was present in this goal this morning, at a quarter after eleven o'clock, when I saw Jarvey hanged by the neck until he was dead. I recognise the body now lying in the outboute, as that of William Andrew Jarvey. The jury returned a verdict declaring that Jarrey had been hanged in due course of law. William Andrew Jarvey was the first criminal executed in the Province of Otago; and we believe that only one or two executions had previously taken place in any other of the Provinces of the Middle Island. Until after the execution had taken place, we were not aware that, during Monday, the Rev. Mr. Meiklejohn had two interviews with the convict. Mr. Meiklejohn had not known Jarvey ; but, simply impelled by a sense of duty, he sought an interview with him on Monday afternoon. His name and desire were communicated to Jarvey, who at once said he shonld be glad to see Mr. Meiklejohn. The interview was a tolerably lengthy one. As soon as he could do so, Mr. Meiklejohn approached the question of the convict's guilt; but he was met with, " .Sow, do not disturb me. lam at present in a calm state of mind ; and as I have to Bee my daughter, Ido not wish to be at all excited." But Mr. Meiklejohn again recurred to the point, after the lapse of a short time; ard then the convict said," Ido not see what good a confession couid be now. Any confession I made would only implicate others." The first sentence is, certainly, the strongest of which we have heard from the convict, as tellingagainst himself. As to " implicating others," we presume that there is not one person who has read the evidence against the convict, who would for an instant attach to such a thing the slightest shadow of credence : but we have heard from different sources that the convict has on several occasions, made remarks of a like tendency. When he had used the words to Mr. Meiklejohn, the convict became reserved : he would not again refer to the subject. In the evening, Mr. Meiklejohn (by the convict's request) again visited him ; but he was then somewhat sullen and irritable and would not listen to a word as to his being guilty.

We cannot learn that the convict ever once, ifter his conviction, ventured to assert, " I am innocent of the crime for which I ana condemned."

During yesterday forenoon, some 50 or 60 persons gathered in kndts round the entrances to the gaol, and there were a good many applicants for admission who were refused. Only those were admitted who had a right to be present officially, or who held one of the ten orders which the sheriff is by law allowed to issue. Those who remained outside could see nothing. The arrangements within the gaol were iiniplfif but sufficient, find were well carried out, whether they appertained to the duties of the sheriff or the gaoler. After the execution, a person who was stated to represent the proprietress of a Melbourne wax-work exhibition, was allowed to take a cast of the convict's face and head ; and a local " professor" of phrenology was also permitted to make an examination. From reasons which we stated yesterday, the permission obtained from the Governor to bury the body elsewhere than within the Gaol, cannot be carried out; and the ment will take place to-day, in the Gaol precincts.