The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-16 00:00:00

A Horrible Story of Revenge,

At a large school in the country a rebellion took place
among the boys ; the master, very anxious to know the name
of the ringleader, at length, either by threats or bribes, or
both, induced one of the boys to disclose the name of a 1)(1.
named Davison. He was, of course, severely punished and.
expelled, carrying away with him sentiments of deadly hate
instead of fiae affection he had formerly felt for his school-
fellow, mani, years intervened, during which they never
had the least intercourse. The young man who ha
peached went te- ihe East Indies, He returned, and landed
on the coast of DaVonshire. Stopping to dine at a small.
inn, he inquired of the waiter what 'gentleman lived in the
neighbourhood, and heari,lg that the squire of the parish
was a Mr. Davison, the flan; e struck him ; he thought he.
recollected that his former schoolfellow used to talk of his
home in Devonshire, and while his tanner was getting ready
he determined to go to the squire's house, A maidservant
opened the door, and he sent in his na, me, saying that, if
Mr. Davison had been ekucated at such a Cchool, he would
recollect it. Ho was introduced, and naas t cordially
received by his schoolfellow, whom he found kit,' up with
a fit of the gout, and was pressed to dine, wilt' many
apologies for bad fare, &c., &c., Mr. Davison having unfor-
tunately given ,permission to all his servants to go to a.
neighbouring place, and having kept only the woman
who was his nurse. Mr. Davison appeared so rejoiced in
talking over old stories with his friend, and pressed him ;o
strongly to be charitable enough to pass another day with
him, that at last to consented. Next morning the unfortna
nate guest was found, with his throat cut from ear to ear..
t course, the maidsera,ant was taken up on suspicion—in-
deed, as it seemed impossible from "its nature that the
wound should have been sei.`-ineicted, and as she was the
only creature in the house exaePting her master, who was
unable to move, there did not seal," a doubt. The trial came
on—Mr. Davison appeared as prosecutor—Lord Rosslyn
was his counsel. In spite of the pot,,r girl's protestations
of innocence, the case seemed nearly decided, when Mr.
Davison sent a note to his counsel, desirinj him to ask the
girl whether she heard any noise in the night. Lord Rosa-
lyn objected—but his client insisted. This seenas to have
been one of those strange perversions of intellect by which
guilt is ordained to betray itself when all the artifice which
had accompanied it is lulled to sleep. What coula have
been the object of this inquiry does not appear ; its effect.
was fatal. The girl replied that she recollected hearing a
noise along the passage, which had awakened her—but
that, having been much fatigued during the day, she vii .%
too sleepy to get up to inquire the cause. More questions.:
were asked, the noises and various other circumstances de--
scribed; suspicions arose against Mr. Davison, and the:
business ended in his avowing himself the murderer. He
said that, from the moment in which he first beheld the
face of his old schoolfellow, he had determined upon re•
venging his ancient quarrel by the death of the offender,.
He had crawled on hands and knees from [his own room to,
that of his unfortunate guest, and, unable to support him-
self without the use of his hands, had found great diffi-
culty in opening the door; but, helping himself by his
teeth, had at last achieved it, reached the bed, and perpe-
trated the horrid deed ; he had then crawled back, and had
contrived to free himself from all bloodstains before he got
into his bed. It was the extraordinary noise made by his
crawling which had disturbed the maidservant, and at last
:ed to his detection.—Diaries of a Lady of Fashion, re-
I ceniiY Published by Messrs Longman and Co.

COUNTRi MARKETS.