The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-08-07
did she not leave him ~


did she not leave him?"
Because he had threatened many
times that if she left him he would
kill her. He said: No woman will ever
have it to say that she left Err
Davis.'''
What have you to say to his
charges against her character"
They are false said Mr.. Dayton.
emphatically. Il have every reason to
believe that she was virtuous woman.
He was so insanely Jealous of her that
he maginf1ed every action into an Of
tense. He has even been known to &C
cuse her of immortality when she dane
ed twice with the same man in par
ty. 1 believe that he has maunfactur-
ed these stories against her, for the
purpose of shielding himself The
mother of eleven children is not likely
10 be the lewd woman he pictures her.
A Mr.. Davis, the marshal of Vernal,
Where the Davis family lived, stated to
my sister, now living in Heber, that
ne was willing to testify anywhere
that during all his occupancy of that
office, he had never known anything
detrlmental TO the character of Mrs.
DAVIS The family being driven away
from the reservation was for other
causes, which, for private reasons,
do not care to state. 1t was not, how
ever, on her account
count of the murder?''
at is false in most particulars. It
was proven at the trial that Dr. But
Ter was not in Mrs. Davis company at
any time on the day or evening Of
June 5, the date of the murder. DR..
Butler, who was treating her for some
female trouble, was making prepara-
tons to go away on that day, and had
turned the case over to DIR. Collins,
whose testimony proved Buffers s1Ibi.
Then, one of Davis sons testified that
on the night of the killing he came in
from play about 8 o'clock, and found
that the other members of the family
had retired to bed in different parts of
the one room, of which the house was
composed, Davis lying in one corner
with one of the twins, Mrs. Davis in
still another part of the room with the
other twin and her little girl, and the
other children in other beds. Mrs.
Davis requested the boy to hand her
the other twin, which he did. This
would prove that his claim of being
sent for the wash woman was with
out foundation, as also the story of
her actions with Butler My firm be-
lief, supported by all the evidence l
can find, is that after the children went
to sleep he stole to her bed and DELHI
erately killed her with a pistol being
careful to stifie, with his fingers on her
throat, any cutlery. The print of his
fingers on her throat was as plain as
the marks of the pistol cylinder on her
temple. Many of his statements to his
children and others just after her death
prove that he fully understood the seri-
BUSINESS of his crime
What was the immediate cause of
his killing her?''
ut was doubtless her determination
to leave him and come to live with me.
He knew of this determination through
reading a letter she wrote to me on the
day Of her murder, from which the fol-
lowing is an extract: 1t is the old
story. 1 am very unhappy. 1 will come
and see you in about two months, and
L think I shall stay unless there is a
there is now I am not making these
statements for the purpose of wreak-
ing vengeance on him, as I realize that
life Imprisonment, if his sentence is
committed, will be as severe a punish
ment as the death penalty. do it to
vindicate the character of the dead
woman, and to remove the stigma from
his children, which, God knows, is
deep enough in the fact that their
father is a murderer without their
mother being a bad woman. Davis is
in the hands of the law, and I have no
grudge to satisfy b. I shall not re-
main silent when the character of my
dead sister is falsely assailed. If it is a
question as to Davis being an actor,
l will say that he can look one in the
eye and tell a falsehood as easily as
the truth. This and the fact that he is
a model prisoner are easily accounted
for when we consider his situation