Trial, Sentence, Confession, & Execution of F. B. Courvoisier, F. B. Courvoisier, for the Murder of Lord Wm. Russell
The Verdict
Old Bailey, Saturday Evening, June 20th, 1840.
After the jury had been absent for an hour and twenty minutes, they returned into court, and the prisoner was again placed at the bar.
The names of the jury were then called over, and the clerk of the court said—“How say you, gentlemen, have you agreed on your verdict? Do you find the prisoner Guilty or Not Guilty of the felony of murder with which he stands charged?”
The foreman of the jury, in a low voice, said—“We find him GUILTY!”
The Clerk of the Court then said: François Benjamin Courvoisier, you have been found Guilty of the wilful murder of William Russell, Esq., commonly called Lord William Russell; what have you to say why the court should not give you sentence to die according to law?
The prisoner made no reply. The usual proclamation for silence was then made.
Sentence
The Lord Chief Justice Tindal, having put on the black cap, said: François Benjamin Courvoisier, you have been found guilty by an intelligent, patient, and impartial jury of the crime of wilful murder. That crime has been established against you, not indeed by the testimony of eye-witnesses as to the fact, but by a chain of circumstances no less unerring, which have left no doubt of your guilt in the minds of the jury, and all those who heard the trial. It is ordained by divine authority that the murderer shall not escape justice, and this ordination has been exemplified in your case, in the course of this trial, by the disclosure of evidence which has brought the facts to bear against you in a conclusive manner. The murder, although committed in the dark and silent hour of night, has nevertheless been brought clearly to light by Divine interposition. The precise motive which induced you to commit this guilty act can only be known to your own conscience; but it now only remains for me to recommend you most earnestly to employ the short time you have to live in prayer and repentance, and in endeavouring to make your peace with that Almighty Being whose law you have broken, and before whom you must shortly appear. The Learned Judge then passed sentence on the prisoner in the usual form.
The court was very much crowded to the last.
The Confession of the Convict
After the Learned Judge had passed sentence on the convict, he was removed from the bar, and immediately made a full confession of his guilt.
The Execution
At eight o’clock this morning, Courvoisier ascended the steps leading to the gallows, and advanced, without looking round him, to the centre of the platform, followed by the executioner and the ordinary of the prison, the Rev. Mr Carver. On his appearance a few yells of execration escaped from a portion of the crowd; but the general body of the people, great as must have been their abhorrence of his atrocious crime, remained silent spectators of the scene which was passing before their eyes. The prisoner’s manner was marked by an extraordinary appearance of firmness. His step was steady and collected, and his movements free from the slightest agitation or indecision. His countenance indeed was pale, and bore the trace of much dejection, but it was at the same time calm and unmoved. While the executioner was placing him on the drop he slightly moved his hands (which were tied in front of him, and strongly clasped one within the other) up and down two or three times; and this was the only visible symptom of any emotion or mental anguish which the wretched man endured. His face was then covered with the cap, fitting so closely as not to conceal the outlines of his countenance, the noose was then adjusted. During this operation he lifted up his head and raised his hands to his breast, as if in the action of fervent prayer. In a moment the fatal bolt was withdrawn, the drop fell, and in this attitude the murderer perished. He died without any violent struggle. In two minutes after he had fallen his legs were twice slightly convulsed, but no further motion was observable, excepting that his raised arms, gradually losing their vitality, sank down from their own lifeless weight.
After hanging one hour, the body was cut down and removed within the prison.
Affecting Copy of Verses
Attention give, both old and young,
Of high and low degree,
Think while this mournful tale is sung,
Of my sad misery.
I’ve slain a master good and kind,
To me has been a friend,
For which I must my life resign,
My time is near an end.
Oh hark! what means that dreadful sound?
It sinks deep in my soul;
It is the bell that sounds my knell,
How solemn is the toll.
See thousands are assembled
Around the fatal place,
To gaze on my approaching,
And witness my disgrace.
There many sympathising hearts,
Who feel another’s woe,
Even now appears in sorrow,
For my sad overthrow.
Think of the aged man I slew,
Then pity’s at an end,
I robb’d him of property and life,
And the poor man of a friend.
Let pilfering passions not intrude,
For to lead you astray,
From step to step it will delude,
And bring you to dismay.
Think of the wretched Courvoisier,
Who thus dies on a tree,
A death of shame, I’ve nought to blame,
But my own dishonesty.
Mercy on earth I’ll not implore,
To crave it would be vain,
My hands are dyed with human gore,
None can wash off the stain,
But the merits of a Saviour,
Whose mercy alone I crave;
Good Christians pray, as thus I die,
I may his pardon have.
Paul & Co., Printers, 2, 3, Monmouth, Court, Seven Dials.