THE BURGLARY THE EXECUTION. 135 



nounced their being there. They drank wine, and broke every 

 place and thing in the expectation of plunder. 



" But unfortunately they were disappointed ; I say unfor- 

 tunately, for had they found money, it is possible the lady 

 would have been preserved from insult. Maddened by 

 liquor, and disappointed in their expected booty, the helpless 

 women were subjected to savage insult. 



" What must have been that wretched man's sufferings, 

 as he listened to the supplications of his beautiful wife for 

 pity ? Some of the villains were * of milder mood* than 

 their fellows, and a partial protection was afforded to the 

 miserable lady. 



" After a dreadful visit of three hours, the ruffians left the 

 house. Their apprehension was almost immediate. I was 

 present at the trial, and the testimony of that beautiful 

 woman, who sat on the bench beside the Judge, with the 

 evidence of the wretched husband, was melancholy. 



" Conviction followed, and I attended at the place of 

 execution. Gallagher, the most horrible-looking scoundrel 

 imaginable, came out. The buzz among the crowd subsided 

 into muttered prayers and compassionate ejaculations. He, 

 the felon, was unmoved ; his deportment was desperately 

 hardened ; he looked without emotion on the multitude, and 

 from amid the mass recognised some acquaintances, and 

 acknowledged them with a demoniac grin. He was turned 

 off in savage callousness but his life was miserably 

 prolonged. 



" From his immense weight for the ruffian was of 

 Herculean proportions the rope gave way, and he fell with 

 violence to the ground. His thighs were badly fractured, 

 and he was carried to the scaffold again, a maimed and 

 trembling wretch. All his hardihood had forsaken him, and 

 if it were possible for a man to undergo the agonies of death 

 a second time, assuredly they were twice endured by that 

 loathsome criminal Captain Gallagher/' 



