EXECUTION" OP SOUTHEY.

Otago Witness, Issue 748, 31 March 1866, Page 15

EXECUTION" OP SOUTHEY.

The extraordinary criminal Stephen Forward, alias Ernest Walter Southey, underwent the last penally of the law on the 11th January, at the usual place of execution, in front of the county gaol at Maidstone. The culprit has lately paid great attention to the exhorlatbns of the chaplain, and on the Sunday previous to his execution, prior to the com men cement of divine s rvice in the cbapel, he rose, and adc3ress ; ng his fellow prisoners, said : — " My fellow- men and brethren, I feel that it rests on me as a most solemn duty to the Creator, as well as a most high duty towards 3 ou, that I should make a declaration of the great Father of the Universe having been most graciously and most mercifully pleased to direct me to the belief of the Divinely inspired truths of the Bible. I therefore come here to-day, and desire to make an acknowledgment of all my faults, and joining with you in the public worship of Alrbighty God. I desire also to acknowledge openly that the overwhelming mass of troubles to which I have been subjected, and which have bean the means of bringing me to a sad and untimely end, are clearly traceable to my having lost in ray earlier years the guiding and soothing belief m the truths of the Christian religion. And I desire to acknowledge before all men my heartfelt and deeply sorrowful sense of my utter sinfulness and worthlessness." Having made this statement in a loud and distinct voice the prisoner sat down, and appeared to pay deep attention to the service.

In the course of a conversation the culprit had with the Rev. Mr Woolmer on Monday, the latter inquired of him whether he acknowledged the sinfulnes3 of the crimes for which he wa3 about to suffer. The prisoner, in reply, said that before he could give an answer to this question he must remark upon the difference between men's laws and God's laws, and he then went on to talk in a religious strain, evidently showing that in his own mind he did not consider that he had been guilty of a crime. The chaplain then inquired of him whether he was ready to acknowledge that his motives with reference to all the murders he committed were not sinful ? In answer to this interogatory the prisoner said be certainly regarded the acts he had committed in a different li^ht at the time he committed them to what he did now, and he went on to say that he did not believe that God punished sinners by any absolute law, but that they- were punished principally by their own conscience. "My acts," said the culprit, "in putting my three adopted \ children and Mrs Forward and my daughter ] to death, were attributable to motives which, so far as I can by the keenest self-analysis determine, were of a virtuous character; but I now feel all human actions to be sinful, even those which, according to the human standard, are considered virtuous." Mr Woolmer then asked him whether he acknowledged the justice of the sentence of the law, and he replied

' in an emphatic manner that he did not do 1 ao, observing at the same time that he considered his acts should be measured by some higher standard than human laws. After the culprit had been pinioned by Calcra f t, who was as->i«ted on the occasion by another ex cutimer, he exoKhued that he died 'rus'imr onK' to the merits of the God- Man Je«ua Chr'st. The prisoner prayed audibly, aid just before he was place! n>on the drop requested the chaplain, as a last favor, when he was upon the scaffold, he would only utter the sentence of the prayer, " Lord, into Thy hands we commend the soul of this our brother, for Thou hast redeemed him, 0 Lord, thou God of Truth." His request was complied with, when the drop fell, and the culprit, after a very short struggle, ceased to exist. The weather at the time of the execution was inclement ; the number of persons who were present did not exceed 500. A rather curious incident occurred at the moment of execution. The cavalcade, it was arranged, should start from the cell at about three minute 3to the hour of 12, the time appointed for the execution, but upon arriving afc the foot of the drop, it wanted one minute to 12 by the prison clock. Upon the under- sheriff looking at the clock again, the hand was still at the same spot. At the very instant the snow, which was falling ia large flakesv had arrested the minute-hand of the clock, and the execution consequent!}' took place before the appointed hour. The body, after hanging an hour, was cut down, and a cast ot the head was taken. In the afternoon, the body was buried within the wall 3 of the gaol.

A New Bombshell. — Mr. Thew, of the Whitehaven and Furnesa Railway, has recently turned his attention to the construction of those fearful implements of warfare, bombshells. According to the Cvmberland Pacquet, the new projectile consists of a perfectly globular shell — the shape to which Government has shown preference — containing a second, smaller shell, of the same form ; this, again, contains a third shell, which in its turn contains a fourth. The inner shells are about a quarter of an inch thick, and the outer is about au inch thick. The sizes are so arranged that between each shell there is a e'ear chamber all round of about an inch, The smaller shell and the several chambers are filled with gunpowder by a very ingenious contrivance of the inventor, ard the whole would b3 then closed up by the ordinary fuse. The enormous quantity of splinters which would be scattered aboufc on the explosion of such a shell must be evident, and its destructive powers must be fearful to contemplate.

Value of Land in the Citt or Losrdo\. — " The great city ! the heart of the commerce and finance of the civilised world!" — at least so Said the late Baron Rothschild, and he must he accepted as a great authority on such imttera — a city guirded by C4O police, 800 Hon. Artillery Compnnv, 600 London Militia, and nearly 2000 Kiflemen ! My agricultural friends will naturally think that all this implies aa immense area of space. How surprised, then, will they be when I tell them thaS the city of London is exactly the .size of a farm of 631 acres and 10 poles! Into thi3 small space are crowded daily more than 800,000 person?, and at night about 130,000 repose there. To these must he added unaccountable vehicles and animals of every description. Land everywhere in the City is dear, but especially so in the neighbourhood of the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange, and other commercial points. I shall astonish some of my country friends when I assure them that the last cheap thing- I heard of in Lombard street was sold at two millions and a quarter .per acre — say L7O per superficial foot, or L 630 per superficial yard ! and still the pries is rising-. Imagine paying an annual rent of L 25 odd for a space not much larger than a full- sized tea-tray. The old idea that London is paved with gold becomes literally realised when one must place 70 golden sovereigns on each superficial foot. Well may citizens choose to live out of town, and only do business, in the City, when one first floor in Lombard street lets for L 4500 annually, and another for L2BOO. Vast, indeed, must be the transactions, whose concoction and completion take place on those costly floors. Mighty steam, by rail and by sea, and the wonderful telegraph, have made London the accessible focus of the business world. To those floors come, gliding along the telegraph, wires, business conversations and hard bargains. Far away countries, at every point of the compass are hourly challenged oa business matters. Once tedious months are now compressed into brief hours. Men's busy thoughts ebb and flow at lightning speed, unhindered and unchecked by wind, tide, or time. Well may the resigned agriculturalist, who must abide nature's protracted course, sigh for the quick returns and abundant profits of keen commercial men having all these ad van- . tages.

Tub " Argas " states that petroleum ia a crude form has been found ia quantity on the Coorong, ia South Australia