EXECUTIONMonday morning witnessed the awful and disgraceful exit of nine unhappy culprits from this world by the hands of the common hangman, from the execution drop in rear of the body of the gaol. Frequent as these spectacles are and have been after every Criminal Assize, the circumstance of so considerable a number, drew together a more considerable crowd than perhaps had ever before attended as spectators on the like occasion in Sydney. The respective names and offences of the nine miserable culprits were as follows, viz.:— John Quigley and Samuel Clarke, burglary; John Walsh, shooting at Mr. George Barber, with intent to kill, and robbing him; Patrick Kegney, Joseph Spicer, and James Tomlins, stealing in a dwelling house, and putting the inmates in bodily fear; James Henery, cattle stealing; Patrick Troy and Joseph Bradley, forgery. The oldest among them did not exceed thirty years, there was scarcely one amongst the culprit group but had ties of kindred or association to be severed from. The culprit Troy was not only a husband but a father, the father of five children, and had been for some time a house-holder in Sydney. The anguish attendant on the last parting meeting between this wretched man and his wife and children, is said to be indescribable. Troy expressed a wish that neither his wife, children, or friends' should be witnesses of his disgraceful death. Bradley was a man of good education; he once resided at Parramatta; where, for several years, he was Clerk to the Bench of Magistrates and maintained a fair reputation. Intemperance, however, appears to have got the better of his other qualities. What he had acquired by honest industry, he frequently dissipated extravagantly, and of late, it was remarked, that his sole dependence for support rested upon the small and precarious profits he obtained by writing petitions, memorials, and the like, for which, by all accounts, he was well adapted[.] His race, however, was run. On his trial he spoke well; his defence was delivered in an audible and firm tone; he protested his entire innocence of the crime for which he had been tried and convicted. Troy and Bradley, from the moment of conviction, never dreamt of a respite — they expected nothing short of the rope. |