Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1913-11-13
THE WORLDS MYSTERIES


|
August, 1899, he promised to ADD
| ,te IL his life was spared. He wa
,ken to London, riding behind h
val, with indignity. On the Both
eptember he signed in the Tower
eed of abdication, wherein he owne
! imself insufficient and useless, reat
,g 1t first aloud with cheerful mic
nd ending with a request that HI
,usin would be good lord to him.
The parliament ordered that Ricf
I'd should be kept close prisoner
nd he was sent secretly to Pontt
act. There, in February, 144O,
led. Shakespeare alleges that h
ras murdered,s but this is general
QUILTED by historians. The myster'
Richards death led to rumors tina
q had escaped, and an impostor pre-
ending to be Richard lived for man,
ears under the protection Of the Scot
ish government. Was 1t the rea
richard that was buried without state
1400 at Kings Langley, and honor
IDLY reinterred by Henry v at West.
Minister in 1413?
There have been stories extant that
Richard died from exposure during his
winter Imprisonment, and others that
he had stabbed himself through re-
morse. Perhaps the strongest argu-
ment against the story that Richard
stabbed himself in fit of despair may
be derived from the fact that IL such
had been indeed the case the new king
might easily have produced evidence
to establish the truth.
| 1t ought not to be forgotten that in
whatever way King Richard died, dur
ing the whole of his course from castle
to castle, whether at Pickering, Leeds,
Knaresborough or Pontefract, he was
in charge of Henry's own private
servants; that in each of these castles
he was the lord, as hereditary proprie-
| tor not merely as king, and that he
could therefore, had he been so mind
ed, have produced with ease the exact
proof of the way by which the unfor-
tunate king came by his end.
In other words, Henry could have
easily cleared himself of the charge
that he had helped to conspire in the
death of the king, and that he did not
do so is strong presumption against
his innocence. Furthermore, when the
tomb of Richard was opened in 1919
1t was found that the kings skull
showed no marks of injury, and in a
great measure this would seem to dis
pose of an assassination charge.
The tomb was again opened in 1871
by Dean Stanley. who also bears
strong testimony of there being no as.
sassination, but he deemed it right to
speak guardedly, saying: whether
the king really reposes in the sepul-
cher which he had constructed is open
to grave doubt"
Edward Solly, writer who of re-
cent years has given the subject much
study, says: after scanning all the
evidence closely it is clear that the
assassination account and the story
that King Richard survived for many
years are both without foundation. All
the evidence seems to show that he
died at Pontefract, practically from
want of nourishment. Whether he
chose to starve himself or whether
proper food was Intentionally with
held from HMM a word, whether he
committed suicide or whether he was
murdered is 'still an open question.
There is, however an intermediate So
luton which is. quite possible.
when the king, enfeebled by i'm
prisonment was told how utterly his
party was destroyed, he was naturally
overwhelmed with grief and refused
all food. After three or four days, and
when he felt himself sinking, he was
persuaded to take food, but food was
then too late his vital power unequal
to the task. and he died of exhaustion.
OF Richards last days there seems to
be no information, but it is quite fair
to suggest that he died in this man
ner."
Probably the most improbable story
of the kings death is that of his hav-
ing been assassinated by Sir Peters of
Exton. This relates how King Henry
said, in Piers presence: "Have l no
faithful friends that will deliver me
from him whose life will be my death,
and whose death will be the preserva-
ton of my life?" Thereupon, taking
The words of his sovereign as a COM
mand, Sir Piers selected eight men
and went to the prison chamber of
Richard and with stroke of his pole
ak felled Richard to the ground and
with another stroke despatched him.
4 vrCrsuIAH NUINADrn At rAI IsGE