Execution of Minnie Dean.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 19, 13 August 1895, Page 2

Execution of Minnie Dean.

Mrs Daan was executed at the lovt rearKill tiaol at-8 o'clock yesterday morning, the ' only persons present being the sheriff (Mr Martin), the-gaol surgeon (Dr McLeod), the Bey. G. Lindsay, and a few representatives of the press. After the sheriff had formally demanded the body of the condemned woman from the gaoler, themornful procession passed from the cell to the scaffold, headed by the gaoler and the surgeon, and behind them wag the Bey. G. Lindsay reading the funeral service. Mrs Dean came next, the haugman aDd the sheriff fetching np the rear. The ill-fated woman walked through the " gaol yard with firmness, and took her stand | upon the trap with -a self-control and composure that was marvellous. The hangman having adjusted the noose over her head and pinioned her limbs, the sheriff put the formal question as to whether she had anything to say. She replied, " No, I have nothing to say, except that I am innocent." The sheriff sigualled to the hangman, the latter put his hand to the lever by which the apparatus of the trap was controlled. The woman said "Oh God, let ma not suffer." The last word was on her lips when the trap opened, and a second afterwards all was over. Death was instantaneous, the neck having been broken and the spinal cord snapped. Prior to her leaving her cell, Minnie Dean told the Rev. G. Lindsay that while admitting the jury could have coma to no other verdict than they had upon the evidence, she had not been guilty of any criminal intent or forethought, although responsible . for the death of the child. She claimed that she had only givon the child an overdose of laudanum, and that unwittingly. Pno r to her leaving the cell she said she would die like a woman and not like a coward, and expressed her thanks to the sheriff and Mr and Mrs Bratby for the kindness and consideration with which she had been treated. After tha body had been allowed to remain hanging for one hour— the period provided by law— Dr McLeod examined it as to the cause of death, after which it was placed in ■ a plain black oloth-covered coffin prepared for tbe purpose. A formal inquest was held in the afternoon, before Mr J. W. Poynton, coroner, and a jury consisting, of Messrs T. M. B. Muir (foreman). B. Blackham, W. F. Williams, W. Searle, John Kirwan, and A. J, Bankm. The following verdict was re- ■ turned :— " That the s*id Minnie Daan was, on the 12th August, 1895, within the common gaol at InverearKill, in due course of law, • hanged by the neck until she was dead, in execution of the sentence passed upon her by Joshua Strange Williams, Esquire, a Judge of the" Supreme Court of New Zealand, at a sitting of tha said Supreme Court, holden at Invercargill, in the said colony, on' ■ the 21st day of June, in the year aforesaid." The consent of the Government having been obtained, the body was delivered to representatives of the , woman's husband, Charles Daan, and was taken to Winton by the afternoon train. Oa the night preoeding the execution, Mrs Dean slept only three hours and a-half, when she engaged herself, in writing letters. She took no breakfast, and only moistened her lips with the glass of spirits provided for her.