EXECUTION OF GRIFFIN FOR THE CLERMONT ESCORT MURDER.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 954, 23 June 1868, Page 3

EXECUTION OF GRIFFIN FOR THE CLERMONT ESCORT MURDER .

Brisbane, Jun 3 1. ! The Clermont escort murder whic h has i been so long before the public has eulmi--1 nated in the execution of Griffin, whose j position in society as a police mag' .strate, 3 independent of the atrocity of the , deed, 3 has given the tragedy a notoriety almost j unparalleled in the history of the c ;olonies. Griffin was hung at 8 o'clock th is morn--3 mg._ The Rev. Mr. Smith, Pre? .byterian » minister, spent tho night with hii ;n and atl tended him to tho scaffold. The , unfortu- > natc man mantained coolness an t d perfect ; self-possession to the last. Aftc ir a good \ breakfast, he arranged his toilet, ; observing . with. a smile that it was for the last time. i He rapidly ascended tho steps to the scaf- . fold, and expressed his desire t< ) make some ■ present to the hangman. On b eing asked if L he -wished to make any confc ,ssion ho ro- . plied with emphasis, " No." After a while [. tho cap was drawn over his face, arid he said, "The Lordhavemercy onme." When - the rope was passed over head he as- : sisted in adjusting it and passed it under . his flowing beardL On :che fall of the drop there was a mom-entary struggle and all . was over. The body was interred in, the cemetery at 9 a.m. Mr. Smith conducted ; the funeral service^ About 60 persons were admitted to witness the execution, , but several hundred collected outside the gaol walls. During last nig ht the clergyman twice put a direct ques tion to Griffin whether he was guilty, a:ad he replied " No," protesting his innocence, but his manner during the time he was in gaol convinced all who communicated with him , that he committed the murders. On the scaffold he repeated the Lord's prayer after Mr. Smith in a clear firm voice. Hockampton, June 2. Griffin confessed to Grant, a warder of r the gaol, that he committed the murder. The missing vali se with the bank-notes wero found near M jrs. Ottley's on information given by Gi-iffin to the turnkey. Griffin said 3,730 n otes were in the valise, which leaves only s Lxteen unaccounted for : the notes are not yet counted. Griffin made an oral statejtnent to the turnkey ; the supposed object was to induce the turnkey to aid his escape aud share the plunder. He said Power awoke while he was rifling the notes, ;and fired a revolver, the shot passing through Griffin's beard ; Griffin then shot Pow er through the head. Cahill, who had b&en ill, and sleeping against a tree, woke with the report, and aimed a revolver at Griffin, who immediately shot him in the stomach. Cahill, falling forward, shot himself with his own revolver through the head. Ho said the doctor ought to .liave found the ball in f!nli4lV 0 etrvmnnl.