John Edwards

Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant, the governor of and commander in chief at the Island of Malta, having approved of the sentence of death pronounced by the Court-martial, assembled under his orders to try Bombardier John Edwards, of the Royal Artillery, 3rd Battalion, on a charge of shooting at the Adjutant, Captain Keate, and on his having failed to hit him, loading his piece a second time with intent to kill, the execution was ordered to take place on Friday, the 21st of December (1861), on the parade ground in Fort Ricasoli, the eastern side of the entrance to Valetta harbour, near the place where some 42 years ago Christopher Delano and others of the crew of the brig William, were hung in chains for robbing and afterwards scuttling on the high seas the brig Helen, Captain Cornish.
At daylight, the whole of the troops in garrison, excepting the guards and sentries, including even those at the outposts and all military prisoners, were on the march to the place of execution, the generals of brigades and all staff officers being in full uniform, and having reached there by seven o'clock were immediately paraded in such a way that the unfortunate criminal might pass before every one of them. At about half-past seven three artillerymen marked out the precise, spot for the intended execution, by shaking out a sackfull of sawdust. Soon after, the prisoner, in regimentals, was paraded round, and then with the Rev. Mr. Hare, the senior chaplain to the forces ' on his right, and the provost marshal, with a loaded revolver, on his left, accompanied by the serjeant major, R.A., walked with a firm step to the spot where the sawdust had been spread, preceded by a black-painted coffin or shell, which was afterwards placed on the ground to the right of its intended occupant. The man then took his stand for about ten minutes between the clergyman and the provost marshal fronting the picket of soldiers, marched up to within a short distance of him to fire the fatal volley. He with the clergyman and provost marshal then knelt and prayed for about ten minutes, when the clergyman shook hands, and, seemingly much affected, walked away a short distance to the right. The provost marshal then put a white handkerchief over the criminal's eyes, and after shaking hands with him led him away to the destined spot, where he knelt on one knee, remaining upright and to all appearance undaunted, and after about three minutes the volley was fired, and the unfortunate man fell forward on his right side, when there was a roll of drums and the provost marshal stepped up and discharged the contents of two barrels of a pistol at his head, no doubt with a humane intention of putting an end to all possible sufferings, but for which there could scarcely have been any necessity, inasmuch as one of the previous musket balls had already, as though discharged with unerring aim , entered at the forehead and passing, through the brain perforated the skull, whilst the other four had hit the chest and breast. The remains were immediately placed in the shell, past which all the troops, including the prisoners, were marched, and then with the bands playing they re-embarked in the lighters or flat pontoons, from which they had been two hours before landed, and turned back to the nearest point to their respective barracks; and the prisoners, several of whom had swooned on the ground, to the prisons from which they had been taken to witness the harrowing spectacle.
The remains were afterwards interred, and thus ended the execution of a sentence which it is hoped will strike terror into the breasts of the many evil-minded soldiers who witnessed it, and put a stop, it is sincerely and fervently hoped, to the sad and of late oft-repeated similar crimes that have been committed by soldiers against their superiors.
The 'Ondine', a journal edited by a Maltese advocate, holding the office of assessor of the Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Court, the organ of the priesthood and Jesuits, and said to be in the pay of the ex-King of Naples, and possibly of his Holiness the Pope, asks "Why was not the case of this wretched man tried by die civil tribunals? It was not an infraction of military discipline, but a common crime. Perhaps the proclamation of 1828 only regards priests, and not all her Majesty's subjects? Whilst this attempted crime is punishable by the military laws with death, the punishment by the civil laws is only twelve years' hard labour."
Strange to say, on the very day following a Roman Catholic priest and his brother were tried by the ordinary criminal court for waylaying and firing at a man with whom they were on bad terms several shots, with intent to kill, one of which wounded in the arm the intended victim, and the jury having found them guilty, the Court sentenced both to nine years' imprisonment, deducting from the term of twelve, as enacted in the code, three years, in consideration of a recommendation from the jury, founded on provocation received.