Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1890-02-01 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

CONFESSION BY THE BONS.  The climax of the Crewe tragedy has now'altuost arrived. The two sons of the murdered man, Richard Davies and George Davies, have confessed the part they had taken in connection with the commission of the crime. Both prisoners have made statements incriminating each other, from which it appears that the crime was planned by the murdered man's son Richard, and connived at by the younger prisoner. The circumstances are of a most painful character. The police are very reticent, but what had all along been an, tioipated has turned out correct, that the youth who drove the trap made false statements of what took place on the night of the murder, and that he did so to screen his brother. I But now the accused have said sufficient to satisfy the police that they alone were concerned in it. It is stated that some painful disclosures may be looked for as to the terms upon which the late Mr Davies lived with some members of his family. The prisoners are said to have long regarded him with feelings of intense dislike. Oue peculiar circumstance has come to light. It evidently I did not form part of the murderers' ! plan. The elder prisoner, Richard Davies, on arriving borne on Saturday night divested himself of his overcoat, andrhe also took , off his boots. Some time after the younger I brother, George, rushed into the house and announced, with much apparent terror, that his father, with whom he had been riding home, had I been waylaid and murdered on the road. Thereupon Richard put on his boots, and hastily leaving : the house accompanied his brother to the scene lof the crime, but he left his overcoat behind. Arriving at the spot where his father lay, be supported the head of the deceased for a moment, and his vest, from I contact with the body, became bloodstained. 1 From the side of hi dead father he went and knocked up Inspector. Oldham, who noticed that the prisoner was without an overcoat, despite the ! late hour of the night.- The officer instantly went to the house at The Hough, and there found Richard's coat covered with blood. The account 1 of the attack given at first by the young prisoner I was circumstantial enough, though the police soon had found flaws in the statements. Consequently, their suspicions were aroused, notwithstanding that everything favoured the supposition that Mr Davies fell by the hand of some desperado, whose sole motive for killing him was to take possession of any money which might be found upon his person. ! The police have secured possession of an overcoat and a pair of gaiters worn by the prisoner Richard Davies on the night he walked home, and they are covered with blood from top to bottom. They are now searching for the missing are with which it is believed the murder was committed. The police have gathered sufficient evidence without requiring to call the younger prisoner as Queen's evidence. A very painful part of the affair is that the mother will be required to give evidence against her sons on the charge of wilfully Murdering their father, and that the sisters and brothers of the accused will also have to give evidence. On Thursday morning John Davies, the eldest son of the deceased, drove into Crewe, accompanied by his mother, and asked permission to interview his brother, but this was a privilege which Inspector Oldhsrd did not grant.