THE SCENE IN COURT AT JACKSON'S TRIAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9154, 8 September 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE SCENE IN COURT AT JACKSON'S TRIAL.

We have received information by cable that John Jackson, who was condemned to death for the wilful murder of Ralph Dyer Webb, a warder of the Strangeways Gaol, had been executed. Late papers give the following of the scene at the conclusion of the trial :—The appearance presented by Jackson in the dock was disappointing to those among the mass of spectators who were prepared to see a burly ruffian of the Bill Sykes type. Since his committal by the magistrates Jackson had allowed his beard and whiskers and moustache to grow, and in the decently-dressed, pale, and obviously nervous young fellow who came to the front of the dock in obedience to the order, " Call John Jackson," there was no show of the desperado, but, rather, a shy and inoffensive person. Jackson quietly seated himself in the chair which was provided for him by Major Preston's orders, and listened with attention to the speeches and the evidence in which the case against him was laid before the jury. He carefully shielded his face from the gaze of the ladies on his left, and maintained that position until the last and most trying scene. Mr. Addison stated the case temperately and clearly, and indeed the facts lay in the proverbial nutshell. Mr. Wharton, the prisoner's counsel, had a hopeless task before him, but he had an appearance of confidence that visibly, for a few minutes, excited n feeling of hopefulness in tho breast of the miserable being who was in a crouching position close to tho bars of the dock behind the learned counsel. It was beyond the power of man, however, to reconcile the facts proven in evidence with the ingenious theory that Webb had received the fatal injury in the accidental manner suggested by Mr. Wharton. The learned counsel brandished the hammer with which the murder was committed, and started several ingenious but mutually destructive theories ; but though his manner was earnest and occasionally solemn, he was obviously attempting the impossible. Towards the close he referred to the presence of the prisoner's father —a hale, respcctable-looking man, who was sitting face to face with his guilty sonand made an appeal to the jury bo spare the parents of the prisoner the unspeakable grief of knowing that their child had met nis death at the hands of the common executioner. The prisoner, after a vain attempt to overcome his natural emotion, gave way for a moment, but only for a moment, to the terribly bitter feelings which the situation must have excited. After this painful episode, and before the judge began to sum up, Mr. Firth left the court, with the sympathy of all the observers. His wretched son followed his progress through the crowd for a moment, whilst a spasm of pain distorted his features, but he removed the traces of tears, and turned to watch, with painful interest, all the proceedings. When the fatal word " Guilty" was pronounced, he covered his face with a handkerchief, and leaned heavily on the rail of the dock. Close on either side were two stalwart warders. When the Clerk of Arraigns put the usual question whether he had anything to urge in arrest of sentence, Jackson uncovered his ghastly features for a moment and said, in a scarcely audible voice, that he never intended to strike Webb. He again covered his face and listened to the address with which the judge prefaced the dread sentence which it was his duty to pronounce. For one instant, when the judge was saying that it now only remained for him to pass sentence of death, the convict raised his face and regarded the judge with a fixed and ghastly stare. Then he again concealed his features, and when the solemn words, " And may the Lord have mercy on your soul," had been uttered he stood up with desperate resolution, glanced hastily round the court —"perchance he had some friend, some brother there"—and then gave himself into the hands of the vigilant warders.