Page:Interesting particulars of the last moments, and execution, of Moses M'Donald.pdf/4

( 4 ) was again adjusted, and a new rope obtained. He was then turned off at about 20 minutes before 4 o’clock, cut down about twenty minutes after 4, and deposited in a coffin by his father, brother, and sister, and buried on the following evening. His behaviour in the prison here, and at the place of execution, was exemplary, and seemed to accord with his unhappy situation. As this was the first execution that ever took place at Greenock, we sincerely hope it may be the last, and that the recollection of the source that produced such an awful spectacle to the crowd assembled, and painful task to those more immediately charged with having the law put in execution, may serve as a warning and admonition to that part of the community who by their heedless or determined course of life, render such dreadful examples necessary.

The Magistrates, Clergy, &c. and those on whom this ardous duty more particularly devolved, for the order and regularity with which it was conducted, and the steadiness displayed by them in performing a duty so repugnant to the feelings of humanity, is the thanks of every class in the community deservingly due.

We have been obligingly favoured with the following account and reflections of this unhappy man, by two of the Clergymen who had attended him.

On Friday last, Moses M'Donald, was executed here for shopbreaking and theft. He had been tried and received sentence of death in Glasgow; but the Judges thought it might add to the effect of the example to order their sentence to be put into execution in the place where the crime was committed. It was most just and necessary that such iniquitous practices should be checked by a striking example of the severity of the Law; and the public is greatly indebted to the vigilence and activity of the Magistrates of Greenock, in detecting the perpetrators and abettors of the crime for which this unhappy man was condemned to death, and one of his companions to banishment.