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THE EXECUTION OF DEEMING.
THE SCENE AT THE SCAFFOLD.
CONFESSES THE RAINHILL MURDERS.
The last days of that astounding negation of
everything human, Frederick Bailey Deem-
ing, were passed in comparative decency,
and the change in his bearing and
conduct, if not calculated to remove the
deep horror and resentment that his deeds
of blood had aroused, were at any rate
in striking and favorable contrast to the
repulsive spirit of levity that he assumed before
his sentence had been pronounced. On Monday,
23rd May, when he came on the scaffold to
expiate his crimes the change was still more
marked, and those whoso painful duty it was to
look upon the performance of the extreme
penalty of the law, found it difficult to recognise
in the livid features and shrunken form
of the convict, in his repulsive prison garb,
the man who but a few days before
had laughed so recklessly in the faces of his
accusers. Then, with a horrible mixture of
maniac defiance, bluster and hypocrisy, he
played his part as one acting desperately to
the last. Standing among the dreadful
apparatus of death, the torment of his sin-
laden soul showing in the working of his ashen
face, he seemed stricken and resigned, but with a
curious desire to play the man struggling through.
The nature of his deep nnd numerous trespasses
against every law have been given with every
horrid detail, and there is no need to allude to
them, even, now. He died with words of repent-
ance on his lips ; and soul blackened and blood
stained as he was, it may bo permitted to hope
that they were sincere.
The surroundings of an execution are always
the same, and, save for the demeanor of
the miserable central figure, scarcely vary in a
single detail of their repulsiveness. Perhaps
at the grim ceremony of Monday, owing to
the notoriety that the unveiling of his dark life
has given Williams, there was an unusual interest
displayed to catch a glimpse of this extraordi-
nary anomaly of human nature, but that was
the only unusual feature about the sombre affair,
Well dressed people in considerable numbers
were arriving at the gaol soon after 9 o'clock,
armed with passes that should entitle them to
take a last look at him, and hundreds of others
sought in vain for the same privilege, whilst
outside some hundreds of people had collected,
to stand patiently and gaze with unaccountable
fascination at the grey walls of the prison, which
looked as they have looked any time during
these last 30 years, no matter what tragical
happening was going forward inside. Still, the
people appeared to derive satisfaction from the
inspection, and when the news reached them
that Williams was equally beyond pity or
hatred, a hoarse cheer, which might have proved
disconcerting to the Humanitarian, was set up.
Those who had actually seen the capital rites
carried out did not cheer. Perhaps, on the
whole, even to the sternest advocate of the code
of an eye for an eye, death by hanging is not a
cheering spectacle.
The sheriff arrived at the gaol a few minutes
before 10, but before that the "privileged"
spectators had been conducted to positions near
the gallows. The small iron gallery directly
opposite the death machinery was packed thick
with people who looked incongruous enough in
black coats and silk hats against the background
of the whitewashed walls and prison furnishings.
Below, on the floor of the corridor, more wit-
nesses of the fast approaching tragedy had been
accommodated, whilst the dim light that crept
through the dome revealed men in the recesses
of the transept. It yet wanted a few minutes
to 10, and an uneasy hush came over the
assemblage. Much has been written of the
appalling surroundings of the death sentence, but
in the few minutes that elapsed before the entry
of the sheriff what horrifying sensation there
was seemed to make itself felt in the terrible
precision and absolute exactness of the prepara-
tions — the warders standing stolidly on the
scaffold outside the condemned cell, the hang-
man, equally unmoved, looking unconcernedly
from his cell opposite, the rope dangling idly
from the beam — the businesslike air of the
officials as they moved about the corridor on
different errands. Then the buzz of voices
could be heard and sentences distin-
guished, and it could be learnt that
curiosity was as powerful a factor in
the crowd as any other ; whilst through all came
the voice of the reverend gentleman, exhorting
the prisoner to turn his every thought to his
peril. Then the sheriff entered with the govornor
of the gaol, and heads were bared as he passed
up the iron stairs of the gallery and on to the
gallows.
The sheriff entered the condemned cell,
and a moment afterwards the door
opposite opened and the hangman ap-
peared, and followod the sheriff, to
appear again a few seconds afterwards
with the condemned man by his side. The
chaplain followed, repeatimg the beautiful
words of the burial service.
As the prisoner stepped out on to the scaffold,
with arms pinioned and the awful white cap
drawn over the top of his faoe, which, neverthe-
less, was distinctly visible, he turned his
wan features on the crowded gallery imme-
diately in front of him, and seemed to be search-
ing with a hunted, hungry look for a friendly face.
There was not one there, and with labored
though tolerably firm tread he moved to the
trap over the drop in the silenco of death,
broken only by tho voice of the clergyman. In
another moment he was standing on it, his
figure in its repulsive felon's dress clearly
silhouetted against the light from the barred
windows immediately above, and again
there was a pause as the hangman speedily
performed his hideous formalities on the now
drooping felon. It was noticeable that even in
the short space that had gone by since he had
left the cell his stock of resolution had waned
fast, and when the sheriff put the question
whether he had anything to say he seemed
almost incapable of making any mental effort,
but with a painful struggle he replied, in chok-
ing, inaudible tones, "Lord receive my spirit,"
"God have mercy on my—." He did not
finish the supplication. The support crashed
away, and the knot crushed on his neck, and all
was over.
As has been said, Williams faced the supreme
moment with some show of fortitude, but this
bearing was in striking contrast to his behavior
earlier in the morning. When the Rev. Forbes
and Whitton called they found him utterly
prostrated by the thought of his approaching
doom, and on bended knees and amid torrents
of incoherent tears he besought them to
ward off the inevitable reparation he
was so soon to make. By earnest minis-
trations the reverend gentlemen managed to
bring him into a calmer frame of mind,
and at breakfast hour he was sufficiently com-
posed to make a hearty meal. After that his
courage once more collapsed ; and in order that
his nerves might be braced to meet his end with
some composure he was allowed brandy and
ammonia. This had the desired effect, and, as
has been related, he walked on to the scaffold
with firmness.
Whilst Williams was suffering his final
paroxysm of fear just before 10 o'olook. he
made what is tantamount to a confession of
the Rainhill murders to the Rev. Mervyn
Whitton and the Rev. Forbes. He was on his
knees weeping bitterly, and was asked
to unburden his soul by confessing his
crimes. Amid incoherent weeping he
moaned out, "Lord forgive me for
having despatched my poor wife and children
without warning." This was all, but perhaps
it hears the mark of truth far more eloquently
than the strange statements that he has concocted
during the last fortnight, and the equally un-
truthful and contemptible stories that have
been put into his mouth.
Deeming has died without, it is believed,
leaving behind him any document containing
a statement of his connection with the
Rainhill and Windsor tragedies that can
be relied upon. Certain papers , are now
in the hands of the sheriff, Mr.
Anderson, comprising a long recapitulation of
the story told by Deeming to Mr. Scott, with
sundry embellishments, and two wills, in one of
which he desires Mr. Lyle, his solicitor, to hand
to Miss Rounsefell 10 per cent, of the net pro-
ceeds of the sale of his autobiography, and in
the other of which he abuses the same young
lady in round terms, and is pleased to "disin-
herit" her for the heinous offence of failing to
call upon him in prison. On Sunday Deeming
addressed to the Rev. Mr. Scott the following
letter : —
H.M. Gaol, Melbourne, 22 | 5 | 92.
Rev. H. Scott,
My dear Sir,— I beg to tender my sincere thanks
for all your past kindness to me. You have been
most kind in this respect, and it would be impossible
for any man to do more to help his fellow creature
to a happy end than you have done to help me. I
hope I have in every way shown myself attentive to
your teaching. I die a fully penitent sinner and a
Christian, and I still tell you, as I always have
that I did not intend to kill my poor Emily, nor did
I know myself at the time I did it. and I can only
look on my execution as a murder. Still death
will be a relief to me, and with all your kindness
and consideration for my soul. I. should have died
happy. . . . Again thanking you with all my
heart,
I remain, sincerely yours,
F. B. Deeming.
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