DOUBLE EXECUTION AT LIVERPOOL HENRY FLANIGAN and MARY WILLIAMS, the two prisoners convicted of murder and sentenced to death at the recent Liverpool Assizes, by MR. JUSTICE ARCHIBALD, have been executed at Kirkdale Gaol, in the presence of the prison officials and the representatives of the press. FLANIGAN’s crime was one of a very brutal nature, he having murdered his aunt under circumstances of great aggravation, and although a reprieve was sought by his friends, there was but little hope of their endeavours being successful. FLANIGAN was a shoemaker by trade, and was employed by his aunt, and the murder took place on the 4th April, during which night the prisoner, after a fit of drunkenness strangled his relative in the kitchen, and robbed her of all the money she had about her. The case of the woman WILLIAMS was not of such a heinous character, she having been convicted of shooting a man named NICHOLAS MANNING at Bootle on the 20th April. There had been a quarrel between the sisters of the deceased and the prisoner, and, as alleged by the prosecution, the latter seeing the deceased man passing her house, took a pistol and shot him. The woman has throughout strenuously persisted that she was innocent, and that it was her husband (who has disappeared) who committed the fatal act. This assertion she repeatedly made, even on the scaffold. A great effort was made by the Mayor of Bootle and other persons to obtain a reprieve for the unfortunate woman, but in vain. Both prisoners were Roman Catholics, and listened to the administrations of the gaol chaplain with considerable interest. Upon the fatal morning, they rose at half-past five, after having spent a sleepless night, and at half-past six attended divine service in the chapel, where the Communion was administered, the prisoners confessed, and received absolution, the woman still asserting her innocence. Shortly before eight o’clock the culprits were brought out from the “reception room”, and taken up to the scaffold, supported by warders and followed by the chaplain, who recited the service. The man appeared dejected and even stupefied, and with the exception of one last despairing glance around, he took no notice of anything and did not speak. His arms were already pinioned, and his legs were now secured by means of a strap, and the white cap was drawn over his face. The executioner then adjusted the noose, and he stood waiting his fate. The woman was treated in the same way, a female warder being present by her side. During the operation of preparation – which seemed to those looking on to be terribly long, although actually only a few moments were occupied – she recited various prayers and the creed. She also protested her innocence, saying it was her husband who fired the pistol. Before the bolt was drawn she said, “God pardon me for my bygone sins”, and at the last moment she shook hands with the female warder, saying, “Good bye, God bless you all”. The drop was then let go, and the unhappy couple fell about five feet. The jerk consequent upon such a fall was apparently such as to produce instantaneous dislocation of the neck, for the bodies of the sufferers – of which, however, only the legs from the knees downwards could be seen, owing to the construction of the scaffold – seemed to become quiet after a few slight convulsive movements. They remained suspended for some time, and an inquest was subsequently held. The last double execution at Kirkdale was in April, 1873, and in Sept. of the same year, four convicts were hanged at the same place. The last occasion upon which a woman was hanged was in 1843, when BETTY ECCLES, whose crime created considerable excitement, suffered the extreme sentence of the law. =============================================================== barb, ontario, canada.