A STRANGE STORY.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 December 1921, Page 1

A STRANGE STORY.

LONDON. Oct. 7. A weird xlury comes fiom .M no tgeuiisy concerning a giave in the parish c'e’i; hvaiil. Exactly a Iminlred years igo .luliii Newton Davies, a larni hailill'. was publicly hanged there tor highway rubbei y. Willi the rope around Ids neck mi the scaffold, lie deflated I Imt. in proof of his innoeeiici', grass would not eu\er his giave for a eeliliir'. 11 is supposed prophecy lias been lullillcd. To-day, on Mm neglected crave then' is still a barren, stoiile strip ill i'l.c for.ll e.f cioss, though thick glass grows unhindered all Around. Past and present sextons have stoutly denied that anything lias ever been dune to keep tin- giave bar, an I superstition holds that anyone tiling to I ins t cate the proplieei meets an iinnatilial end.

M, .1. R. Toiuley, C.R.E., the cliilichw rih'ii, who is a well-known solicitor noil public man in Mimtgomerysliiie. has given ilis views ini the matter. ”1 mu not a superstitious mail ” Mr TomIcy said, ■•hut there is eeitainl.v something uncanny about the grave. I am sine that nothing is ever done to stop t!u* fmss winch throws till siround u\cispreading the sterile strip. Tnc sexton would lie afraid of Ids life to interfere with the grave. There are too many tragedies connected with it- I mist'll would not fur anything sow glass on it, nor would I let any friend do so. These lin ts 1 can vouch lor: About In veins ago a commercial I ravcller, hearing ol the eiavo and its stiange lull', eiirelully planted grass seeds A fortnight ti-r lie met with a sinldeii death. Another man planted a rose tree on the head of ti,,' grave. The tree grew, biff the man was seized with paralysis, anil never recovered. There are other like stories, lor which I cannot vouch. Ihe.v may he no iloithl me -merely coincidences. hut that ni'iiT icmove the local belief.” ... Monlginnery is now waiting to see it the grass will spread over the grave, ; ,s llie century has expired.