The Execution of Phillip Lynch
29 Mar 1860, from the New Jersey Mirror
On Friday morning last(March 23, 1860), Philip Lynch, convicted at the December term of the Court, of the murder of George Coulter, suffered the extreme penalty of the law, in the yard of the County Jail, in this town(Mount Holly.) The murder of Coulter was one of peculiar atrocity. A brief review of the facts in the case, may not be unacceptable.
On the night of the 23d of September last(1859), Coulter and Lynch met at a house in Bordentown, where there was quite a gathering of persons and a raffle going on. After remaining there a short time, Lynch, according to the testimony of Coulter's little boy, who was with him, invited Coulter to go to his (Lynch's) house, which he did. They sat down and commenced drinking. Lynch, shortly after they entered the house, brought a gun from up stairs and showed it to Coulter, remarking that he was "not afraid of anybody while he had that."
Soon after, one Peter Conlin came in, and joined them in drinking. He testified that Lynch and Coulter were talking about their strength and their respective powers of endurance, when he went in, and that he measured their arms, at the request of one or both of them, and decided that Lynch's was the larger--though in fact, as he said, Coulter's was the larger. He did this to try and keep Lynch in good humor.
They remained there drinking, until a late hour, when they all went out of the house, Conlin's idea being that they were to go home with Coulter. The three men were drunk--Coulter very drunk. When they had got a short distance from Lynch's house, Conlin, who was a little ahead with the boy, heard a scuffle behind them, went back and found Lynch and Coulter struggling together on the ground--Coulter on top. He separated them.
The boy testified that his father wanted Phil to "make friends," but that the latter, with an oath, refused--and Conlin testified that both seemed willing to fight again.--The boy began to cry, and begged Conlin to take him home, which he did, leaving Lynch and Coulter together. The next morning, Coulter was found weltering in blood, some 50 feet from where the scuffle took place--horribly mangled about the head, face and neck. Portions of a gunstock and lock were found near the body.--The lock fitted the barrel, which was found under the bed at Lynch's house, when the officers searched the premises. There were marks of blood upon the barrel, and also the appearance upon the floor, by the bed, of something having been washed up--the floor being yet damp. His boots too, had been recently washed, and were still wet, when the officers found them in the morning. A shirt was also found concealed in the cradle, having yellow marks upon it, corresponding with the color of the soil where the struggle took place. After Conlin and the boy left, Coulter no doubt staggered and fell by the side of the fence, where he was found, and Lynch, seeing his opportunity, went to his house, got his gun, and returned and beat his victim with it, till he was dead. And not satisfied with that, after he had broken the stock and bent the barrel, (it was found bent) he thrust the ragged end of the stock into the neck of his inanimate victim, making the horrible wound which appeared upon that part of his person. On being arrested, the prisoner at first denied all knowledge of the murdered man, but afterwards acknowledged that he did know him and had worked with him. On the trial, the evidence against the prisoner was so unmistakably clear and convincing, that, notwithstanding the efforts of his able and experienced counsel, the jury rendered a verdict of Guilty of Murder in the first degree, in one short hour after leaving the box.
CONDUCT OF THE PRISONER.
His attempt to escape from the Court House, during the trial, and violent conduct when the sentence was pronounced by the Court--his profanity and threats against the State's Counsel, are no doubt fresh in the minds of our readers. Since the sentence, he has conducted himself comparatively well, and his keepers have had little or no difficulty with him. He has received those who have visited him, pleasantly, and appeared glad to have persons come and see him. He was quite frank and communicative, except when questions were put that seemed to him to be intended to trap him into saying something that might lead to a confession. He seemed not to have any very clear idea of Repentance, and when spoken to on that subject, he intimated that he had never done anything that should occasion him to fear the future. He had sometimes, he said, drank too much liquor, but of that, and swearing, he made little account. His cheerfulness--his light-heartedness, was at times most remarkable. Only the afternoon before his execution, when a company of four or five gentlemen visited him, in his cell, in response to a pleasant, lively remark from one of them--with whom he was somehow acquainted and whom he appeared to be very glad to see--he laughed right heartily. And when the same gentleman, in shaking hands with him and bidding him good-bye, told him his time was very short, he knew that to-morrow was the day, he replied firmly and determinedly, "I shall be ready when to-morrow comes--I am ready now." He had, or pretended to have, an idea that he could come back to earth again, after death. He has, since his sentence, disclaimed any ill-will towards any one, but said he wanted to come back, that he might see his little girl--for whom he always expressed a very strong attachment. He said he thought more about his little girl than anything else: she used to go part of the way with him, when he went to work in the morning, and came to meet him, when he was returning home in the evening. He said, as the only favor he should ask in the other world, would be that he might be allowed to re-visit his little girl, he thought it should be granted him. He always declined to have any religious service s in his presence. He said he didn't(sic.) pray himself, and did not want anybody to pray for him. Rev. Father Bolles visited him at different times, during his incarceration, but failed to make any apparent impression upon him. The phrase which he was in the habit of using, in relation to the murder, was: "I can't tell anything about it, and does'nt(sic.) know anything about it." He was always very positive in asserting that he would rather be hung, than sent to the State Prison for life. Ever since the sentence, he has stuck to the story which he told in his speech in Court, that he saw nothing of Coulter, after he and Conlin and the boy left his house. He did not go with them, but went immediately to bed.
DAY OF THE EXECUTION.
On Friday morning, a good breakfast of beef-steak, &c., was taken to the cell of the condemned man, but he refused to eat anything--saying he did'nt(sic.) want any breakfast. In reply to a question, by the Keeper, as to how he had rested during the night, he said, "Very well." Soon after, his Counsel, Mr. Merritt, visited him, and informed him that the effort to obtain a writ of error in his case, had failed, and that his fate was sealed. He cast his eyes upon the floor for a moment, but raised them immediately, and said he was ready. About 10 o'clock, the Rev. Father Bolles entered his cell, and in half an hour afterwards, the sister of the prisoner arrived, and was admitted. The two remained with Lynch till the hour for the execution approached. His sister had a babe in her arms. She was very much affected at parting with him, and wept bitterly. He shook hands with her, kissed her on the forehead as she leaned over him, and bade her good-bye. He betrayed no emotion whatever. His wife visited him for the last time, on Tuesday.--She tried hard to persuade him to pray, but unsuccessfully. About 11 o'clock, the Sheriff accompanied by his deputies, entered the cell of Lynch.--
The Sheriff said to him: "Well, Philip, I have come for you." He replied, "I am ready, Sheriff." One of the members of the Press, who was present, remarked to Lynch, that he was a Reporter, and if he had any statement to make to the public, he would be happy to publish it. To which he replied, that "all he had to say, he would say down in the yard." A white shroud was then produced, which he suffered to be put upon him--he himself buttoning the belt and the wristbands. While doing so , he enquired of the Sheriff, if his wife had sent the shroud. The Sheriff answered "she did not." "If she had," he then said, very emphatically, "I wouldn't put it on." His arms were then pinioned and the noose placed around his neck. He complained while his arms were being tied, that they were tying them too tight, and they were loosened till he seemed content. All the time the Sheriff and his assistants were adjusting the noose about his neck, his lips were in motion, but the only word that could be distinguished, was "Christ." Whether he was engaged in an imprecation upon his enemies, or (what is the more charitable conclusion) in prayer, could not be determined. All things being in readiness, the prisoner was conducted from his cell into the yard.--The gallows stood at the south-east end of the jail-yard, between the prison and the wall which surrounds the yard. It consisted simply of two uprights with a cross-beam. A rope, to the end of which a hook was fastened, passed over pulleys above, and down the right post, to the ground. To this, were suspended weights, to the amount of 364 lbs. These were held up by another rope--the cutting of which, would cause the weights to fall and suspend the criminal in the air. THE EXECUTION. The prisoner walked firmly to the gallows, surveying the posts and rope with a calm, steady gaze, as he approached, and taking hold of the hook attached to the rope, when he got beneath the gallows. Being placed with his face towards the assemblage, he stood erect and firm, resting one leg--the foot of the other being a little in advance--and gazing steadily toward the company in front of him.
The Sheriff then said to him: "Philip, if you have anything to say, you now have the opportunity." He replied in a firm voice, without turning his head or altering his position in the least: "I have nothing to say; I don't know anything about it."--After waiting a moment or two, the Sheriff repeated what he had before said--and received the same answer. The Sheriff, his Counsel and others, then advanced to shake hands with him, but he took no notice of them, gazing steadily in front of him as he had done from the moment he took his position under the gallows. As the cap was being placed over his eyes, he said to the Sheriff: "don't cover my face--I have done nothing to have this put on." The Sheriff told him he must execute the law. His lips were then seen to move as if in prayer, but there was nothing audible.--The black cap was drawn over his face, the noose adjusted, the Sheriff cut the rope with one blow of a hatchet, and at 20 minutes of 12, the weights fell. The wretched man was thrown upward with a tremendous jerk, giving a return fall of several feet, and in the opinion of the attending physicians, instantly dislocated his neck. He hung without any apparent motion for a moment or two, his whole frame was seized with a violent trembling, which continued several minutes; the blood purpled his hands; then the body gradually relaxed, and the man was dead. After hanging about thirty minutes, the body was cut down and placed in a walnut-stained poplar coffin. His friends not having sent for the body, it was privately buried on Saturday night. We incline to the belief that the wretched man did not any time--even when under the gallows--fully realize the fate that awaited him. He frequently remarked that no one saw him commit the act, and he could not be hung for what no one saw him do. He also said, the afternoon previous to the execution: "If they do hang me, they will hang me for what I know nothing about." During a visit of Mr. Cannon, the Prosecuting Attorney, to his cell, a few days previous to his execution, (at which time he asked Mr. C's pardon, and the pardon of the Court, for his conduct, when he was sentenced,) he earnestly requested him to do what he could for him. It is not unlikely--judging from his whole conduct, and his constant and emphatic denials of knowing anything of the murder, in connection with his ignorance--that he believed if no confession could be obtained from him, either while in prison, or under the gallows, he would be set at liberty. During his imprisonment, he frequently spoke in such a way as to induce the belief that he had strong hope of not being executed, and we feel quite confident that this hope did not desert him, even at the last moment. Much credit is due Sheriff Thompson, for the humane manner in which the execution was conducted. He had a trying ordeal to pass through--but he performed the painful duty with a firmness and self-possession that was remarkable. His assistants rendered valuable service, and are also deserving of much praise. INCIDENTS. About one hundred and fifty persons witnessed the execution. Among the number, we noticed Sheriffs Wilson of Camden, Aumack of Ocean, and Ex-Sheriffs Dobbins, Pancoast and Gaskill, of this County(Burlington).
Most of the members of the Board of Freeholders were also present. The National Guards of Mount Holly, and Marion Rifles of Burlington, were in attendance--a portion of them surrounding the gallows, while the remainder guarded the approaches to the Jail, and acted as sentinels around the wall. There was a large crowd of persons lining the fence of the yard, in front of the prison, while the execution was in progress. Tickets of admission were in great demand. We heard of several offers of five dollars being made for a ticket, and of one offer as high as ten dollars. A well-known citizen sold his ticket for $2.50. But very few of those who had no tickets of admission, were able to obtain a glimpse of the execution. A large tree in the rear of the prison wall, was well filled with persons, who looked at a distance, like so many crows, perched on the limbs.--We noticed also, a number of persons upon the roof of a barn in the neighborhood, and two or three upon the roof of a house: but what kind of a view, if any, they had of the proceedings, we are unable to say. A dozen or more women collected on some of the door-steps, nearly opposite the jail.--What they expected to see--whether they wished to "see the soldiers," or to gaze upon the blank wall, behind which a human being was being "hung by the neck until he was dead"--is more than we can imagine. The front windows of several of the dwelling houses, in the immediate vicinity, were closed. The gallows being just beneath the cell window of the prisoner Palmer, (charged with the murder at Hampton's Gate) he had a fair opportunity of witnessing the execution. He was seen looking out the window; but the instant he saw that he was observed, he withdrew his head.
SKETCH OF LYNCH.
Philip Lynch was born in the County of Donegal, in the North of Ireland, where his mother still lives. He had no trade, but in common with a large portion of his country-men, who immigrate to this country, he worked as a farm hand. He seems to have had a tolerable common school education, and for a man in his condition of life, wrote a pretty good hand. He also had religious training, and was a member of the Romish Church, when he left his native land, but having become irregular in his habits, soon after coming to this country, he was excommunicated. He landed at New York, some ten or twelve years ago, according to his own account.--After remaining there a short time, he left, but where his next stopping-place was, we are unable to state. He seems to have been somewhat of a traveler, chiefly in search of work--having gone through a considerable portion of Pennsylvania, and as far north as Providence, Boston and Concord. He also lived at Trenton and Camden, in this State, and finally settled down at Bordentown. The first we learn of Lynch, from the criminal records of the County, is in the year 1850. At the August term of the Court, in that year, he was convicted of an assault and battery with intent to commit a rape, at Bordentown, and sent to the State Prison for one year. Again, in the year 1854, at the September Term of the Court, he was convicted of an assault and battery upon George Clift, at Bordentown, and fined $1.00 and costs. He was also convicted of resisting the officer who arrested him, and fined $20 and costs. The fines not being paid, he was imprisoned in the County Jail, for some time, and until released by the Board of Freeholders. This is the last we hear of him, until he was arrested in September last, for the murder of Coulter--as a penalty for which, he last week forfeited his life. Lynch was a stout, muscular man, 5 feet 8 or 9 inches in height, and weighed about 180 pounds. His complexion was dark.--His nose was small and thin and inclined upward at the end. His eyes were grey, small and deep set, giving them a rather sinister expression. In conversation, he looked a person square in the face. His hair was black and inclined to curl. On the top of his head, it was quite thin.--At the execution, as on the trial, he wore short whiskers and moustache. He represented himself to be about 30 years of age; he had the appearance of a man of 40. He leaves a wife and two children--the oldest a girl about four years old, the other a boy about eighteen months.
On Friday morning last(March 23, 1860), Philip Lynch, convicted at the December term of the Court, of the murder of George Coulter, suffered the extreme penalty of the law, in the yard of the County Jail, in this town(Mount Holly.) The murder of Coulter was one of peculiar atrocity. A brief review of the facts in the case, may not be unacceptable.
On the night of the 23d of September last(1859), Coulter and Lynch met at a house in Bordentown, where there was quite a gathering of persons and a raffle going on. After remaining there a short time, Lynch, according to the testimony of Coulter's little boy, who was with him, invited Coulter to go to his (Lynch's) house, which he did. They sat down and commenced drinking. Lynch, shortly after they entered the house, brought a gun from up stairs and showed it to Coulter, remarking that he was "not afraid of anybody while he had that."
Soon after, one Peter Conlin came in, and joined them in drinking. He testified that Lynch and Coulter were talking about their strength and their respective powers of endurance, when he went in, and that he measured their arms, at the request of one or both of them, and decided that Lynch's was the larger--though in fact, as he said, Coulter's was the larger. He did this to try and keep Lynch in good humor.
They remained there drinking, until a late hour, when they all went out of the house, Conlin's idea being that they were to go home with Coulter. The three men were drunk--Coulter very drunk. When they had got a short distance from Lynch's house, Conlin, who was a little ahead with the boy, heard a scuffle behind them, went back and found Lynch and Coulter struggling together on the ground--Coulter on top. He separated them.
The boy testified that his father wanted Phil to "make friends," but that the latter, with an oath, refused--and Conlin testified that both seemed willing to fight again.--The boy began to cry, and begged Conlin to take him home, which he did, leaving Lynch and Coulter together. The next morning, Coulter was found weltering in blood, some 50 feet from where the scuffle took place--horribly mangled about the head, face and neck. Portions of a gunstock and lock were found near the body.--The lock fitted the barrel, which was found under the bed at Lynch's house, when the officers searched the premises. There were marks of blood upon the barrel, and also the appearance upon the floor, by the bed, of something having been washed up--the floor being yet damp. His boots too, had been recently washed, and were still wet, when the officers found them in the morning. A shirt was also found concealed in the cradle, having yellow marks upon it, corresponding with the color of the soil where the struggle took place. After Conlin and the boy left, Coulter no doubt staggered and fell by the side of the fence, where he was found, and Lynch, seeing his opportunity, went to his house, got his gun, and returned and beat his victim with it, till he was dead. And not satisfied with that, after he had broken the stock and bent the barrel, (it was found bent) he thrust the ragged end of the stock into the neck of his inanimate victim, making the horrible wound which appeared upon that part of his person. On being arrested, the prisoner at first denied all knowledge of the murdered man, but afterwards acknowledged that he did know him and had worked with him. On the trial, the evidence against the prisoner was so unmistakably clear and convincing, that, notwithstanding the efforts of his able and experienced counsel, the jury rendered a verdict of Guilty of Murder in the first degree, in one short hour after leaving the box.
CONDUCT OF THE PRISONER.
His attempt to escape from the Court House, during the trial, and violent conduct when the sentence was pronounced by the Court--his profanity and threats against the State's Counsel, are no doubt fresh in the minds of our readers. Since the sentence, he has conducted himself comparatively well, and his keepers have had little or no difficulty with him. He has received those who have visited him, pleasantly, and appeared glad to have persons come and see him. He was quite frank and communicative, except when questions were put that seemed to him to be intended to trap him into saying something that might lead to a confession. He seemed not to have any very clear idea of Repentance, and when spoken to on that subject, he intimated that he had never done anything that should occasion him to fear the future. He had sometimes, he said, drank too much liquor, but of that, and swearing, he made little account. His cheerfulness--his light-heartedness, was at times most remarkable. Only the afternoon before his execution, when a company of four or five gentlemen visited him, in his cell, in response to a pleasant, lively remark from one of them--with whom he was somehow acquainted and whom he appeared to be very glad to see--he laughed right heartily. And when the same gentleman, in shaking hands with him and bidding him good-bye, told him his time was very short, he knew that to-morrow was the day, he replied firmly and determinedly, "I shall be ready when to-morrow comes--I am ready now." He had, or pretended to have, an idea that he could come back to earth again, after death. He has, since his sentence, disclaimed any ill-will towards any one, but said he wanted to come back, that he might see his little girl--for whom he always expressed a very strong attachment. He said he thought more about his little girl than anything else: she used to go part of the way with him, when he went to work in the morning, and came to meet him, when he was returning home in the evening. He said, as the only favor he should ask in the other world, would be that he might be allowed to re-visit his little girl, he thought it should be granted him. He always declined to have any religious service s in his presence. He said he didn't(sic.) pray himself, and did not want anybody to pray for him. Rev. Father Bolles visited him at different times, during his incarceration, but failed to make any apparent impression upon him. The phrase which he was in the habit of using, in relation to the murder, was: "I can't tell anything about it, and does'nt(sic.) know anything about it." He was always very positive in asserting that he would rather be hung, than sent to the State Prison for life. Ever since the sentence, he has stuck to the story which he told in his speech in Court, that he saw nothing of Coulter, after he and Conlin and the boy left his house. He did not go with them, but went immediately to bed.
DAY OF THE EXECUTION.
On Friday morning, a good breakfast of beef-steak, &c., was taken to the cell of the condemned man, but he refused to eat anything--saying he did'nt(sic.) want any breakfast. In reply to a question, by the Keeper, as to how he had rested during the night, he said, "Very well." Soon after, his Counsel, Mr. Merritt, visited him, and informed him that the effort to obtain a writ of error in his case, had failed, and that his fate was sealed. He cast his eyes upon the floor for a moment, but raised them immediately, and said he was ready. About 10 o'clock, the Rev. Father Bolles entered his cell, and in half an hour afterwards, the sister of the prisoner arrived, and was admitted. The two remained with Lynch till the hour for the execution approached. His sister had a babe in her arms. She was very much affected at parting with him, and wept bitterly. He shook hands with her, kissed her on the forehead as she leaned over him, and bade her good-bye. He betrayed no emotion whatever. His wife visited him for the last time, on Tuesday.--She tried hard to persuade him to pray, but unsuccessfully. About 11 o'clock, the Sheriff accompanied by his deputies, entered the cell of Lynch.--
The Sheriff said to him: "Well, Philip, I have come for you." He replied, "I am ready, Sheriff." One of the members of the Press, who was present, remarked to Lynch, that he was a Reporter, and if he had any statement to make to the public, he would be happy to publish it. To which he replied, that "all he had to say, he would say down in the yard." A white shroud was then produced, which he suffered to be put upon him--he himself buttoning the belt and the wristbands. While doing so , he enquired of the Sheriff, if his wife had sent the shroud. The Sheriff answered "she did not." "If she had," he then said, very emphatically, "I wouldn't put it on." His arms were then pinioned and the noose placed around his neck. He complained while his arms were being tied, that they were tying them too tight, and they were loosened till he seemed content. All the time the Sheriff and his assistants were adjusting the noose about his neck, his lips were in motion, but the only word that could be distinguished, was "Christ." Whether he was engaged in an imprecation upon his enemies, or (what is the more charitable conclusion) in prayer, could not be determined. All things being in readiness, the prisoner was conducted from his cell into the yard.--The gallows stood at the south-east end of the jail-yard, between the prison and the wall which surrounds the yard. It consisted simply of two uprights with a cross-beam. A rope, to the end of which a hook was fastened, passed over pulleys above, and down the right post, to the ground. To this, were suspended weights, to the amount of 364 lbs. These were held up by another rope--the cutting of which, would cause the weights to fall and suspend the criminal in the air. THE EXECUTION. The prisoner walked firmly to the gallows, surveying the posts and rope with a calm, steady gaze, as he approached, and taking hold of the hook attached to the rope, when he got beneath the gallows. Being placed with his face towards the assemblage, he stood erect and firm, resting one leg--the foot of the other being a little in advance--and gazing steadily toward the company in front of him.
The Sheriff then said to him: "Philip, if you have anything to say, you now have the opportunity." He replied in a firm voice, without turning his head or altering his position in the least: "I have nothing to say; I don't know anything about it."--After waiting a moment or two, the Sheriff repeated what he had before said--and received the same answer. The Sheriff, his Counsel and others, then advanced to shake hands with him, but he took no notice of them, gazing steadily in front of him as he had done from the moment he took his position under the gallows. As the cap was being placed over his eyes, he said to the Sheriff: "don't cover my face--I have done nothing to have this put on." The Sheriff told him he must execute the law. His lips were then seen to move as if in prayer, but there was nothing audible.--The black cap was drawn over his face, the noose adjusted, the Sheriff cut the rope with one blow of a hatchet, and at 20 minutes of 12, the weights fell. The wretched man was thrown upward with a tremendous jerk, giving a return fall of several feet, and in the opinion of the attending physicians, instantly dislocated his neck. He hung without any apparent motion for a moment or two, his whole frame was seized with a violent trembling, which continued several minutes; the blood purpled his hands; then the body gradually relaxed, and the man was dead. After hanging about thirty minutes, the body was cut down and placed in a walnut-stained poplar coffin. His friends not having sent for the body, it was privately buried on Saturday night. We incline to the belief that the wretched man did not any time--even when under the gallows--fully realize the fate that awaited him. He frequently remarked that no one saw him commit the act, and he could not be hung for what no one saw him do. He also said, the afternoon previous to the execution: "If they do hang me, they will hang me for what I know nothing about." During a visit of Mr. Cannon, the Prosecuting Attorney, to his cell, a few days previous to his execution, (at which time he asked Mr. C's pardon, and the pardon of the Court, for his conduct, when he was sentenced,) he earnestly requested him to do what he could for him. It is not unlikely--judging from his whole conduct, and his constant and emphatic denials of knowing anything of the murder, in connection with his ignorance--that he believed if no confession could be obtained from him, either while in prison, or under the gallows, he would be set at liberty. During his imprisonment, he frequently spoke in such a way as to induce the belief that he had strong hope of not being executed, and we feel quite confident that this hope did not desert him, even at the last moment. Much credit is due Sheriff Thompson, for the humane manner in which the execution was conducted. He had a trying ordeal to pass through--but he performed the painful duty with a firmness and self-possession that was remarkable. His assistants rendered valuable service, and are also deserving of much praise. INCIDENTS. About one hundred and fifty persons witnessed the execution. Among the number, we noticed Sheriffs Wilson of Camden, Aumack of Ocean, and Ex-Sheriffs Dobbins, Pancoast and Gaskill, of this County(Burlington).
Most of the members of the Board of Freeholders were also present. The National Guards of Mount Holly, and Marion Rifles of Burlington, were in attendance--a portion of them surrounding the gallows, while the remainder guarded the approaches to the Jail, and acted as sentinels around the wall. There was a large crowd of persons lining the fence of the yard, in front of the prison, while the execution was in progress. Tickets of admission were in great demand. We heard of several offers of five dollars being made for a ticket, and of one offer as high as ten dollars. A well-known citizen sold his ticket for $2.50. But very few of those who had no tickets of admission, were able to obtain a glimpse of the execution. A large tree in the rear of the prison wall, was well filled with persons, who looked at a distance, like so many crows, perched on the limbs.--We noticed also, a number of persons upon the roof of a barn in the neighborhood, and two or three upon the roof of a house: but what kind of a view, if any, they had of the proceedings, we are unable to say. A dozen or more women collected on some of the door-steps, nearly opposite the jail.--What they expected to see--whether they wished to "see the soldiers," or to gaze upon the blank wall, behind which a human being was being "hung by the neck until he was dead"--is more than we can imagine. The front windows of several of the dwelling houses, in the immediate vicinity, were closed. The gallows being just beneath the cell window of the prisoner Palmer, (charged with the murder at Hampton's Gate) he had a fair opportunity of witnessing the execution. He was seen looking out the window; but the instant he saw that he was observed, he withdrew his head.
SKETCH OF LYNCH.
Philip Lynch was born in the County of Donegal, in the North of Ireland, where his mother still lives. He had no trade, but in common with a large portion of his country-men, who immigrate to this country, he worked as a farm hand. He seems to have had a tolerable common school education, and for a man in his condition of life, wrote a pretty good hand. He also had religious training, and was a member of the Romish Church, when he left his native land, but having become irregular in his habits, soon after coming to this country, he was excommunicated. He landed at New York, some ten or twelve years ago, according to his own account.--After remaining there a short time, he left, but where his next stopping-place was, we are unable to state. He seems to have been somewhat of a traveler, chiefly in search of work--having gone through a considerable portion of Pennsylvania, and as far north as Providence, Boston and Concord. He also lived at Trenton and Camden, in this State, and finally settled down at Bordentown. The first we learn of Lynch, from the criminal records of the County, is in the year 1850. At the August term of the Court, in that year, he was convicted of an assault and battery with intent to commit a rape, at Bordentown, and sent to the State Prison for one year. Again, in the year 1854, at the September Term of the Court, he was convicted of an assault and battery upon George Clift, at Bordentown, and fined $1.00 and costs. He was also convicted of resisting the officer who arrested him, and fined $20 and costs. The fines not being paid, he was imprisoned in the County Jail, for some time, and until released by the Board of Freeholders. This is the last we hear of him, until he was arrested in September last, for the murder of Coulter--as a penalty for which, he last week forfeited his life. Lynch was a stout, muscular man, 5 feet 8 or 9 inches in height, and weighed about 180 pounds. His complexion was dark.--His nose was small and thin and inclined upward at the end. His eyes were grey, small and deep set, giving them a rather sinister expression. In conversation, he looked a person square in the face. His hair was black and inclined to curl. On the top of his head, it was quite thin.--At the execution, as on the trial, he wore short whiskers and moustache. He represented himself to be about 30 years of age; he had the appearance of a man of 40. He leaves a wife and two children--the oldest a girl about four years old, the other a boy about eighteen months.
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