Widnes Examiner. — 1890-04-19 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

THE CREWE MURDER.—MR. MATTHEWS EXPL &INS. .r. FICHERSOIT L : I wish to ask the Home Secretary testion of which I have given him private notice, ley, whether he has any objection to state to the _ouse on what grounds he founded his advice to the Queen to grant and to withhold her royal clemency re-, Oectively, in the caseof George and Richard Davies, reeentlyconvicted of murder, at Crewe. Mr. Mal-mews : The case of the Davies brothers was COO of a cruel and deliberate murder, in which the jury Most properly based their recommendation of the prisoners to. mercy on the ground of youth alone. It was alliessible in such a case to give effect to that recommendation in the case of Richard Davies, who was all but 19 Years of age, an age approaching manhood, at which reaPonsibility for deliberate crime has been enforced, anti ;.!1 my opinion should be enforced. (11,ar, hear.) George uaries was only sixteen years and eight months old. No Person so young has been left for execution for very nlanY years. Although his guilt was admitted, the conpaint' I derived, from a very careful study of the evidence, was that he had acted under the influence of his 11elder brother and that it was Richard who initiated the . Ple,°t and took the principal part in its execution. Under , Meet circumstances, I thought it was possible to give ' jtect to the recommenlation of the jury in the case ot ~, eerge. lain pexmittea to say that I had the advice and ,°neurrence of the learned judge in extending mercy to "tome, and to him alone. (Ministerial cheers.) toStt,lnsequently Mr. T. P. O'CoNeon said : In reference like ue execution of one of the brothers Davies, I should „te ask the right hon. gentleman whether Le had any . -"nence beyond that given at the trial in favour of the !Pinion he has now expressed, and that it was the elder ?t the two brothers who plotted and took the active part . litil executing the murder; secondly, whether he knows ~ at the foreman of the jury who tried the case publicly ;entered after the trial that the recommendation to mercy i aa„ intended to apply equally to both the prisoners; : „illtu whether he knows of any case in which such a recom, endation to mercy has been disregarded? Mr. MArraxws : I an a little exceediug the precedents (tclh the subject in answering any questions at all.' Ce.) - I must entirely decline to enter into any disel,7'un on the evidence or facts, the whole of which the" Under my most careful consideration, assisted by kna - learned judge. (Hear, hear.) It is within the ak`)wiedge of the hon. member as well as mine what has ti1..,7412ed in the newspapers, and I must refer him to aa" tor an answer to his questions. llret...y.—ln Committee of Supply on the Civil Service , ,Ireates, Mr, LABOUCHERE moved the reduction of the Ze for the diplomatic and consular cervices on the r'Lcs'und of the excessive cost of the British Consular wr,esentation in the Argentine Republic as compared in 'u that in Uruguay.—Sir J. FERGUSSON said the o:lreased expenditure was due tothe fact that our repreof kative at Buenos Ayres had to look after the interests thatnglish emigrants .—Several Irish members complained eu no steps were taken to prevent over-emigration to ce.2.es Ayres.—The proposed reduction was negatived. to terrnaL AFRlCA.—Explanations having been asked as e Pesition of affairs In Central Africa, Sir J. FEE theol . said the negotiations with Portugal respecting z_ eetzure of .the Delagoa Bay railway were not yet epleted. The German Government had, unsolicited, te4lll;:ed her majesty's Government that the intended ipt;°n under Emin Pasha was not to affect British alTher'ests, but solely to operate within the German Tzt,Re' pit R.