ce for the
murder of their master, Mr. Thomas Hancock, of Edgefield
District, South Carolina; Sam was burnt, and Ephraim hung, and
his head severed from his body and publicly exposed. The
circumstances attending the crime for which these miserable
beings have suffered, were of a nature so aggravated as
imperiously demanded the terrible punishment which has been
inflicted upon them.

The burning of malefactors is a punishment only resorted to
when absolute necessity demands a signal example. It must be a
horrid and appalling sight to see a human being consigned to
the flames. Let even Fancy picture the scene,--the pile, the
stake, the victim! The mind sickens, and sinks under the
oppression of its own feelings. What then must be the dread
reality! From some of the spectators we learn that it was a
scene which transfixed in breathless horror almost every one
who witnessed it. As the flames approached him, the piercing
shrieks of the unfortunate victim struck upon the heart with a
fearful, painful vibration; but when the devouring element
seized upon his body, all was hushed. Yet the cry of agony
still thrilled in the ear, and an involuntary and sympathetic
shudder ran thro' the crowd. We hope that this awful
dispensation of justice may be attended with such salutary
effects as to forever preclude the necessity of its repetition.

COMMUNICATION.

If any Massachusetts man can read the above without shuddering,
and experiencing alternate emotions of horror and indignation,
his heart must be harder than a millstone and colder than the ice
of the poles. We know not the particular circumstances of the
crime for which this poor wretch suffered, but as far as we can
learn from the public prints, it was for the murder of his
Master. The probability is there was some provocation; for such
dire deeds are not perpetrated without a strong and powerful
impulse. It is however of no consequence; no matter what was his
crime, such a punishment was abominable, and could not be
inflicted, even if the laws permitted it, in our State. If that
monster who committed the Stoneham murder in cold blood, impelled
solely by avarice, had not put an end to his own life, but had
awaited his conviction, had been sentenced to such a punishment,
althou