EXECUTION OK MINNIE DEAN

Western Star, Issue 2033, 14 August 1895, Page 2

EXECUTION OK MINNIE DEAN

On Mon lay morniug in the rnvsroargil eao', Minnie D>an pxpiatcl her cri ne of murdering D i mtby Edith Carter, an infant, bv being hanged, and thus was brought, to a t ol >se, as ff»' as thi < world is concerned, the < trace ly koown as " Tba Larches Horrors." A* three minutes to 8 the gaoler, acco'Dpanted by the doctor, tin sheriff, nod the hangman, proceeded to the condemned ; woman's cpll, when the sheriff fori.adv i dcmandoJ from the gaoler the body of Minnie Dean for ex cution. Trie gaoler having formally complied with this requ St. the sheriff turned to the h »ngm in and said, " Executioner, do your duty." The condemned having been pinioned, j the solemn ptocessioo beaded by the ev Geo Lindsay, realing the OJth Psalm, pronee led to the gallows. "At the first glance we got of her " writes the Dunedin Times special reporter, to whom we are indebted for our paniculars, " I was a'ruok, as I always was in court during her trill, with her dignifiid carriage and bea-ing—head (uncovered, of course), thin, fine, inngrey bair, nicely brushed, neatly ptrted in the middle, and fastened in a knot bebinl. A. dark-shaded maroon blouse - } a shirt of warm-coloured, darker check pattern woollen material and neat leather slippers completed her visible attire. As L have already said, she waUoi erect aud dignified to the foot of the broad sloping steps up which she had to ascend to the scaffold. Hpre she managed to drop one hand sufficiently to lift a.o the front of tier skirt frei fro n her feet, and ascended the steps mora g-auo'ully than [ have seen many a woman asoond the stairs of a modprn first-class hotel. She walked straight on without a halt to the drop-door, gave a scrutini .ine gl mcc, first at the eallo t s and its belorg.ng?, then at the half-dozsn people standing below, a contemptuous, loathing look at the hangman, and plaoed herself in a position to f icilitate his work as much as possible, and took a few long breaths while he was arfusting the ropa and placing the white calico cap over her heai and face. The sheriff then asked her if she bad anything to sav, to which she replied, " I have nothing to say, except that I am innocent;" and then siid " Thank you "to the sheriff. She began to sway backward and forward a little, and was heard to say und r the cao by those who were standing beside her, " Ob, God, let me not saffer!" The bolt was then drawn and the body dropped a distance of 7ft 9in out of sight except to those on the sciff..lding. There was not a tremor, death bein| instantaneou3." The room the condamned woman ojcupied np %o the time of her execution wasu pleisant one It was a nicely lighted room (for a gaol), 12ffc by 10fr, with a fireplace, a small neat wooden bedste id, a table, two wooden stools, a strip of carpet, a Bible laying on the table, a small vase with violets and snowdiopson the mante'piece. Tne whisky and water which had been sent to her by the doctor's orders was untouched, and a Braall 1 lock of her fine, soft, iron grey hair, evi iently cut off than morning, was neatly.ti*d and planed on the mantelpiece for somebody. The Gaoler told us Minnie Daau wa3 a native of Edinburgh. Her father was an independent gentleman, an I her mother had died when she was very young. Mrs Dean 1 had stated more than once to her attendants that she woull prefer hanging to penal confinement. « She had said to the Iter. Mr Linisay, whose faithful siivices have been ' already referred to, that her senteocs was a just one in view of the evidence, but stated 1 that she was innocent so f»r as the oharge of • murder with intent and forethought. Toe gaoler, too, told us she. ha i fillo I up he r own • burial o Ttificate, as she knew har husband was not familiar with all the neoessarv details. The husband saw her on Saturday afternoon for the last time. It is understood that Min Die De»n has lefc a written statement, which will be forwarded to the Government. The body was takeu to Winton, but was 1 refused interment in the cemetery, and was buriel in the grounds at " The Larches." The scaffoli, which was ereooed in the 1 concrete yard wherr the prisoners exercise, ' and in view of all the inmates, must have made an awful impression on one at least ' (Keown) who is waiting his trial f»r murder.