The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1885-08-14
TRUSTED A TRAITOR.
TRUE lNWARDNESS OF THE LONDON
HORSEWHlPPiNG SENSATION.
How Prominent Britisher Repaid Hos
pitaiity-Ruin aud then the Mad
house-NiIIianous Treatment
of Betrayed Girl.

LONDON, Aug. IA The names of the
principals in the sensational horse whipping
affair iii this city Wednesday are now pub
lie property. The gentleman who welded
the stick was Mr. Francis, of Glasgow;
his victim was Mr.. Pearce, chief Of the
great Glasgow ship-building firm of
John Elder q Bros, a married man
and member of Lord North
cote's roya' commission on the depression in
trade. Mr. Francis has told the story of
his wrongs This man Pearce," he says,
was once my most trusted friend, and our
intimacy was Of many years standing Five
years ago, when my daughter was very
beautiful girl of II, the villain took ad-
vantage Of his familiar acquaintance at my
house to accomplish her ruin He per-
suaded her TO secretly Iea"s the school
near Glasgow, which she was attending,
took her to London, and established her in
handsome private lodgings. At first he sur
rounded her with every luxury and gave her
a regular allowance of $75 per week All
this time | was in ignorance of the fate or
hiding place of my daughter, and, after
thorough search, aided by shire wd
detectives, | at last gave up
all hope of finding her, and mournel
for her as dead But Pearce gradu-
ally tired of his victim, and her allowances
iwndled down from $75 per week to moth
ing She managed to live for some time by
pawning or selling her jewelTy and ward
robe, but finally she appealed to him in deS
peration to give her at least the means to
| keep herself alive until she could procure
employment Her appeals became
Troublesome and he proceeded
TO get rid of her in
tEe brutal and outrageous way which tho
English lunacy laws make only too easy for
the rich ruifian. By fraud and force she
was removed to private mad house, and
| confined there as an insane woman. 1t was
while she was in this bedlam that learned
her fate, and secured her release Her
doctors admitted to me that she was not
mad, and had not been mad, but had
been laboring under terrible mental excite
ment amounting to hysteria, when brought
| to the asylum. Afterward she had Iapsed
| into a state of rest tless, despairing apathy,
and as the doctors did not know as she had
any friends except the man who had had
| her confined there, and as her board
was regularly paid, they had kept
her at the asylum l met Pearce
accidentally. My wrong rushed upon my
mind and almost blinded me with rage. |
could have killed him where he stood with
no more compunction than | would feel in
| killing a rat or any other verInin. But |
| gave him a chance for his life. | offered to
meet him in a duel ON the continent He re.
fused. | thrashed him until my tick broke
in my hand and the crowd rushed between
us when he escaped.
Mr. Francis has instituted a criminal
action against Mr.. Pearce. The latter ax
planned the difficulty t. reporter of The
Pail Mall Gazette by saying that the charge
of seduction was false AMI that the whole
thing was but a case of blackmail
Of peculiarly bad kinl For this state.
nent MIR. Francis brings action. He say
he thought Mr.. Pearce had done him a
wrong sufficiently cruel in betraving his
daugh under the guise of friendship,
without adding the insult of describ-
ing the family as blackmailers. Mr..
| Pearce Is rich Conservative, and had
been selected by the Tories to stand as theiI
candidate for Glasgow in the coming cleo
tion. MIR. Francis is ageDtleman of respect
able social standing and is a member of the
| government civil service being an inspector
| Of customs.