DEATHBED CONFESSION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 36, 10 February 1917, Page 15

DEATHBED CONFESSION.

SACRIFICE TO SAVE A BROTHER A deathbed confession to sare 'his brother' from prison! Surely in all the grim annals of the Liitv Courts there .has never been a more wonderful act' of self-sacrifice than that w&tob led Avalon Cramley to the prison cell so that hie brother might escape the gallows. Here is Che strange story—much stranger than fiction. On November 23, 1912, Joseph Fear was slain tn Pasadena. 'For this Bl&ytnp Aralon was eonricted of manslaughter and sent to the penitentiary for ten years, the maximum aentence. One of the remarkable things about the case was the silence with -whidb lie faced the charge end received the sentence. This silence lie still preserves, but it has at { last been broken by the voice of the man for whom Avalon made his supreme eacrlnce. According, to a confession imputed, when dying, to Howard Cramley, elder brother of Avalon, it was 'Howard and not Avalon ■who slew Fear, <)ut cognizant of the facts, and believing his .brother would go to the gallows If the crime were fastened upon him, the younger boy voluntarily assumed the .guilt, took the penitentiary sentence in silence, and let his brother go free. If the farts are as they are vehemently alleged to ibe toy Avelon's friends, the authorities will recommend l 'that the. young man be immediately pardoned. Howard Cramley and Fear were rivals In their attentions to Mrs Nellie Greaney, a Faeadena widow. On the fatal evening Fear arrived at the Greaney residence to find Cramley already tnere. According to the purported demthibed confession of Howard Cramley, (Fear drew a revolver and threatened to kill ihlsn. In order to save 'himself he attacked Fear with a knife, cutting his throat. Mr* Greaney diid not actually witness the fight. A few minutes before «fc« had called in Avalon Oramley, wbo happened to 'be passing, and sent him to a nearby drug store to get her some headache powders. The 14-year-old .boy returned just before the police arrived. Avalon. was ■picked op on suspicion. He at first protested his innocence, but, after a talk with his brother, made no further statements, voluntarily assuming all «he blame.