COLONEL HILLWill the right hon. Gentleman the Home Secretary inform the House whether the convict Withey, lately executed at Bristol, made any statement before his death relating to his guilt?
§ MR. MATTHEWSI received, on Saturday, a Report from the Chaplain of Bristol Gaol, which contained the following passage—
John Withey never told me that he murdered his wife, neither did he ever deny it. Nor did he ever accuse any one else. More than once he allowed that he might have done it in drunken anger; but he always added that, if he did, he neither knew nor remembered anything about it.The Governor of the gaol also informs me that, although Withey was visited since his trial by various relatives and friends, to none of them did he deny the crime. I must leave my hon. Friend to put his own construction on these passages.
§ MR. HANDEL COSSHAM (Bristol, E.)Is it usual for chaplains to delay the publication of confessions in such cases?
§ MR. MATTHEWSThe hon. Gentleman may have observed that the statement is of an ambiguous character. The Chaplain did not consider this was a confession.