noon
* * We have only to say , that W -- m O -- k , Esq. , of Jj -- sb -- e , sheriff of the county of D -- n. and those who officially attended , about four years ago , the execution of a man named M -- y -- , at the gaol of D -- rip -- k , for a most heinous murder , will , should they happen to see this description , not hesitate to declare that it falls far , far short of what they themselves witnessed upon this terrible occasion . There is nothing mentioned here which did not then occur , but there is much omitted . Such , and so slight , after all , is the impression which death makes upon life , when the heart and domestic affections are not concerned . And now , gentle and patient reader -- for well , indeed , has thy patience been tried , during the progress of this tantalizing narrative -- we beg to assure thee , that unless thou art so exquisitely tender-hearted as to mourn over the fate of Bartle Flanagan , the shadows which darkened the morning and noon of our story have departed , and its eye will be dewy , and calm , and effulgent . Flanagan 's execution , like any other just and necessary vindication of the law , was not without its usual good effect upon the great body of the people ; for , although we are not advocates for a sanguinary statute-book , neither are we the eulogists of those who , with sufficient power in their hands , sit calmly and serenely amidst scenes of outrage and crime , in which the innocent suffer by the impunity of the guilty . Fame , who is busy on such occasions , soon published to a far distance Flanagan 's confession of having committed the crime for which O'Donovan was punished . John O'Brien had it himself !