Transcription
EXECUTION! A Full and Particular ACCOUNT of the Execution of JOHN RENNIE and WILLIAM SUTHER- LAND, who were EXECUTED at Edinburgh on Wednesday morning, the 22d August, 1821, for Housebreaking and Theft, with their Behaviour at the place of Execution, &c. THIS morning, Wednesday the 22d day of August, 1821, pur- suant to their Sentence, these unfortunate young men, JOHN RENNIE and WILLIAM SUTHERLAND, suffered the last pun- ishment of the law, at the, now, ordinary place of Execution, Head of Libberton Wynd, Edinburgh. They were tried before the High Court of Justiciary, at Edinburgh, on Monday the 16th of July last, for three separate acts of Housebreaking and Theft; the first, in the house of Mrs Pattison, Leith Links?the second, in the house of Mrs Ferrier, Portobello?and, the third, in the house of Mrs Paterson, at Canaan, near Edinburgh. They were also charg- ed with being habit and repute Thieves. After consulting with their counsel, they pled Guilty of the second charge, and not Guil- ty of the other two, or of the habit and repute. After Lord Gil- lies, the presiding Judge, observed that no advantage could result to them from this plea, on account of the Lord Advocate having pre- viously stated, that whatever plea they meant to put in, he felt it his duty to say, that, on account of the aggravated nature of their case, he could not, in the proper discharge of his duty, restrict the libel to an arbitrary punishment, the prisoners then retracted their plea, and pled Guilty of the whole charges. They retracted again, and pled not Guilty ; but, after the examination of an accomplice, who clearly established their guilt in the robbery of Mrs Ferrir's house at Portobello, Rennie pled Guilty of all the charges, and Sutherland Guilty of the second and third. After being severall addressed by Mr Maitland, for the prisoners, the Lord Advocate, and Lord Gillies, the Jury unanimously found them Guilty, in terms of their own confession. They were then sentenced to be Executed at Edinburgh, on Wednesday morning the 22d of August, after an earnest and solemn advice from Lord Gillies to prepare for the fate which awaited them, as their case could not be recommended by the Court to the seat of mercy for an alteration of the Sentence. As no hopes of a commutation of the sentence, it is said, was entertained, owing perhaps to the aggravated nature of their crimes, as noticed by Lord Gillies when pronouncing the awful sentence, the unfortunate young lads appeared perfectly resigned to their fate, and very penitent, from the moment they were condemned. They accordingly paid unremitting attention to the instructions and ad- monitions communicated to them every day by the Chaplain of the Jail, as well as by the other Clergymen of the City, and private friends, some of whom regularly attended them since their condem- nation, for which they appeared always grateful; and behaved with great propriety during the whole of their confinement. Accordingly, on Tuesday at 8 o'clock in the evening, they were conveyed in a Coach from the Jail, on the Calton-hill, to the Lock- up-house, Libberton Wynd, attended by Captain Sibbald and seve- ral police-officers, where their irons were knocked off, and where they spent the remainder of that night in taking farewell of several friends and acquaintances, and in making every necessary prepara- tion for the awful morrow morning. Two clergymen sat up with them to a late hour, when they went to rest, and slept for a few hours. They rose early in the morning, and were again waited on by the Clergymen, with whom they conversed for a little time, and one of whom, after a Psalm was sung, prayed with them very fer- vently. A little past eight o'clock, the two Magistrates officiating were announced, when their hands were severally pinioned, and they were conducted up the Wynd to the Scaffold, each attended by a Clergymen, with the Magistrates, preceded by the town-officers, and guarded by a strong detachment of police-officers. They appeared on the scaffold, decently dressed, at half-past eight o'clock, where two verses of a psalm was sung, in which they both joined, after which the Reverend Mr Henry Grey prayed for therm most fervently for a short time. They then spoke a little, and shook hands with several round them; after which they mount- ed the fatal drop, and after praying for a short time, they shook hands with one another, when the caps were drawn over their faces, upon which, in a minute or two, one of them dropt the sig- nal, and they were instantly launched into eternity, amidst a great number of Spectators, a few minutes before nine o'clock. PRICE ONE PENNY
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Date of publication:
1821 shelfmark: L.C.Fol.74(295)
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