Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-10-19
DEATH DEMANDED
FOR WIFE SLAYER
Confessed Murderer in West
Virginia Deserves Extreme
Penalty, Prosecutor Says.
Special Dispa tch TO The Star.

Special Dispatch TO The Star
kENOVA, w. Va, October &c.
W. Ferguson. Wayne County prosecu-
TOT. Is preparing to ask the death
penaity for Melvin Parsley, "a. con-
leSsed slayer of his wife May, Is,
and Jacob Baldwin. 33. whom Parsley
Is charged with shooting to death
while in the streets of this town. so
near the State lines of Kentucky,
west Varginia and Ohio that it is
called "kenova"
He admitted the killings" the
prosecutor is quoted, "and will
make every human effort possible to
bring about his conviction with the
maximum penalty as his punishment.
nope to have Parsley indicted ar
raisned and tried within the next
month"
Public sentiment in the killing Of
the Sirl-wife Isl running high in
rum. w. Va, home of the Parsleys.
and in kenova. home of the young
woman's parents. Jealousy is be-
Moved to have been the cause
whether the missives ever play any
role in the trial OF the slayer-hus-
band or not. the girl victim in the
last few days of her life wrote two
letters which are human documents
written to her husband, begging
MIN TO be reconciled to her. pleading
win him to wean himself away from
drink In every paragraph breathing
an unquenchable love. That she had
considered suicide is also made clear
Two days before her husband shot
her within half a block of her home,
Mrs. Parsley wrote the first letter to
her husband-curiously pathetic The
mlsslVe was never mailed. 1t was
placed in an envelope, stamped, and
mrs. Parsley was planning to give
II to the postman. She was dead be-
Tore she could carry out that in
tention.
Last Letter to Husband.
In a firm, beautiful script, Mrs
PARSLEY penned this letter to her hus-
band:
Melvin. Dearest-Just a few lines,
money. wrote you a long seven-page
letter to Crum. Hope you get it.
Gee L sure have missed you, hubby
mine. Don't you care for me Just
iittie? love you so / cried myself
SICK over You after you left. You
say you can furnish evidence for
oiVorce. l do not doubt you at ALL
And ] feel sorry for you. hope
some day You will meet some one
YOU love and whom you think treats
you nice. You've put the last gray
mar in my head you'll ever put there,
love you, dear. l can't keep
from it, but I have suffered much,
having you leave me all alone to
worry and cry over you. Hubby, let
me cry and beg you to give up
whisky. I'll do anything you ask,
out please give 1T up. I'm lonesome
for YOU tonight l wrote seven pages
In your letter to Crum. so am tired
If there is some one else you care
for and don't want me any longer,
please tell me so, dear. won't
stand between You and happiness II
am going back to Kentucky again
soon. l am tired and worried; have
lost all confidence in myself If II
should die before We meet again.
there's letter in my trunk for YOU.
Good night, hubby mine. know
you don't care much for me, but try
to think of me kindly. l have suf-
Tered, too. If l have done you wrong,
! am sorry. I want you to forgive !
me. And think of me as your lonely |
wee wife. s'- MEG"
Planned to End Life.
The Letter Mrs. Parsley referred to |
as being in her trunk for Parsley in
the event of her death is in the hands
of the prosecuting attorney. 1t
reads:
Dear Melvin: am lonesome and
sick tonight. Strange that my
thoughts are with you, wandering
along aimlessly to the beautiful gold
IN sunsets and the deep. purple-hued
dawns that I welcomed back there.
Needless to think Of past memories"