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 bbyd; the master, very anxious to know the name:
of the ringleader, at length, either by threats or bribes, or
both. induced one of the !sop to disclose the name of a boy
named Davison. He was, of course,. severely punished ate.
eipelled, darrying away with him sentiments of deadly bate:
instead of tlre affection he had formerly felt for his school-
fellow. Many years Inter+ettedi daring which they never
had the least intercourse. The young man who ha,
peached went to the East Indies. He retUrnedvand landed
on the coast of Devonshire. Stopping to dint at a small.
inn, he inquired of the waiter what gentleman live,' in the,
neighltwortrhood, and hearing that the squire of the patiala
was a Mr. Davison, the name struck him ; he thought he'
recollected that his former schoolfellow used to talk of his
home in Devonshire, and while his dinner was getting ready
ho defetteined to go to the squire's house. A maidseraanh
opened the door, and ho sent in his name, saying that, L
Mr. Davison had been ektteated at such a school, he would
tstollect it. Ho was introduced, and mot cordially
received ty hie schoolfellow, whom he found laid up with
' a fit of the gout, and was pressel to dine, with many
apologies for bad fare, &c., &c., Mr. Davison having unfor-
tnizately given :permission to all his servants to go to a
neighbouring place, and having kept only the woman
who was his nttrze. Mr. Davison appeared so rejoiced in
talking over old stories with his friend, and pressed him so
strongly to be charitable enough to pass another day with
him, that at last he consented. Next morning the unfortu-
nate guest was found with his throat cut from ear to ear.
Of course, the maidservant was taken up on suspicion—in-
deed, as it seemed impossible from its nature that the
Wound should have been self-inflicted, and as she was the
only creature in the house excepting her master, who was
unable to move, there did not seem a doubt. The trial came
on—Mr. Davison appeared as prosecutor—Lord Roselyn
was his counsel. In spite of the poor girl's protestations
of innocence, the case seemed nearly decided, when Mr.
Davison sant a note to his counsel, desiring him to ask the
girl whether she heard any noise in the night. Lord Rose-
lyn objected—but his client insisted. This seems 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 could 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 was
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 This 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 blood-stains before he got
into his bed. It was the extraordinary noise made by his
crawling which had disturbed the maidservant, and at last
led to his detection.—Diaries of a Lady of Faihion, re-
cently published by Messrs Longnuzn and Go.