Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.
Tripple execution in Lunenburg.
Lunenburg Co., Va., Nov. 12.
On Friday, the 9th instant, the three slaves, John, Dick, and Colin, were executed at our Court-House, for an attempt to poison the family of one of our most influential citizens.
It was a day long to be remembered, one which cannot easily be forgotten.
Shortly before 10 o'clock, the three negroes, dressed in their shrouds, with ropes around their necks, and each seated on his coffin, left the door of the jail in a two-horse wagon.
Surely eye never witnessed a sadder spectacle than that presented as the wagon wound its way through the crowd to the foot of the gallows.
Having reached it, each one, with a firm tread, ascended the steps.
The ropes were then securely fastened to the beam of the gallows; after which the sheriff, in a full, clear voice, read to them their death warrant.
This being done, the Rev. T. W. White, of Richmond, ascended the steps and addressed a few brief remarks to the large crowd which bad gathered on this awful occasion.
He told them that "the way of the transgressor was hard," both in this and the next world; and then impressed upon the servants present the necessity of obedience to their masters, and warned them against the pernicious influence of negro preachers upon their characters and conduct.
Then turning to the culprits, he bade each one farewell in a few touching words, commending them to the mercy of God in Christ.
Having done this, be left them in the hands of the officers of the law. At about 11 ½ o'clock the drop fell, and the forms of the three were dangling in the empty air. Dick seemed to suffer the most excruciating agony.
Whirling rapidly around with the rope, his body was visibly agitated by his convulsive efforts to loosen his hands; every nerve seemed to writhe in pain, and after a short but violent struggle, all was over — the three were dead, and their motionless bodies hanging from the gallows. ***
