Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1890-05-10
Roasted Very Hard.

LONDON ApTll ~S-E G"f" OplHloH
continues at fever heat over the hang
ing OF two weeks ago of Richard Davies,
who with his brother, George, was con
victed of the murder Of their father at
Creme, and the home secre tary, who al.
lowed the boy to die on the gallows, as
we'll as Queen Victoria, who turned a
deaf ear to the mothers appeal for
mercy have been numerically scored by
more than half OF the papers OF the
United Kingdom, and verbally dc.
nounced by a similar proportion of the
adult population.
Coming while the agitation in the
Maybrick case was still fresh in the
public mind, the affair possesses many
elements of interest and is likely to
lead in a radical revision of the iron
clad English law relating to capital
punishment.
The story of the crime has already
been told in the cable dispatches. John
Davies was n prosperous merchant OF
Creme, but a brute to his family. His
sons George, aged 10, and Richard, aged
IL, planned TO murder hin and thus suc-
coed to his business, while Kidding their
mother of a curse that had we'll nigh
become intolerable. One of the BROTH
ers was to accompany the father when
he drove to his country home at tho
end OF the days business, and the other,
masked, was to wait in a lonely lanq
and seize the horses head. Then thu
son in the buggy was to smash hi
fathers head with a Ratchet, and when
life was extinct, the pair of murderer
were to rush back to town and ascriS;
the crime to highwaymen. The plot
was successfully carried out in every
detail, but suspicion was directed
against the brothers and upon beinJ
arrested both confessed, each trying II
| place the main blame on the other,
They were tried and sentenced to death
but the jury made a strong recommen,
dation TO mercy on account of thd
youthfulness Of the brothers, and it wal
not imagined for an instant that either
would hang. Home Secretary Mat
thews, however, with the same per-
verseness that characterized his judg-
ment in the Maybrick case, recon-
mended to the queen that the sentence
on the younger boy be committed to
penal servitude for life, but that the
elder one pay the penalty OF his crime
on the scafIold. Her majesty as usual
acquiesced, and Immediately there was
a howl from nearly every part of the
country. The broken-hearted mother
telegraphed to her majesty, who was
then at Aux le Bains, in the following
words:
Queen of England: NY boy, Richard
Davies, whom the jury recommended ia
mercy, Is to be executed ON Tuesday. ]
beseech you to respite him for further
inquiry. MARY DAVIES.
To this message the queen vouchsafed
no response although the records Of the
telegraph Office at Aux lie Bains show
hat it was delivered and signed for by
a member of the queens staff.
On the following day Hon. Thos. j.
Farrell, foreman Of the jury that con
victed the lads, sent urgent dispatches
to the queen and the home secretary
saying that they had never imagined
for a moment when considering their
verdict that either of the lads would
hang, urging clemency for Richard, and
Offering TO call the jury together to con
firm his statements If time were given.
The queen sent this appeal to the
DOIue ncCTcbdTl WituOub COmiuucHb VI
suggestion, but Matthews declined to
alter his mind, and the boy went to the
gallows.
Matthews is now dubbed Hang One
Matthews" q name that will stick to
him for tho rest of his life, while his
cold heartedness has been denounced
from scores Of platforms by members OF
parliament, ministers and other prcmi-
nent men. As an example Of public
opinion a writer in the Weekly Times,
and who is generally believed to be an
Observation-Disclosures, says:'I would rather
call the lowest prostitute that walks
the strand my friend than the woman
who hereafter accepts the smallest civ
lily, or would allow herself to be seer
speaking to a man who has trampled or
motherhood as the home secretary ha:
done. His conduct is enough to sinh
any government, and the speedy end o.
parliament should a v Birmingham
from the shame Of being longer repre-
sented by a man who deliberately tor
lures and tramples with glee on tho
finest instincts OF human nature"