APPEAL TO THE KING

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 98, 27 April 1935, Page 25

APPEAL TO THE KING

A dramatic appeal is to be made to the King for clemency in this his .Jubilee year on behalf of 10 Dartmoor mutineers, all ex-servicemen, at present serving sentences at Parkhurst, Isle of Wight. It is being prepared by a forger, who, having completed a term of three years' imprisonment, was released on ticket-of-leave recently; "There are at least 400, ex-servicemen at Parkhurst." he told an interviewer. "Although the Dartmoor men are particularly mentioned in the petition to the. King, it is intended to appeal on behalf of all the prisoners in every gaol throughout Britain. "For months past now the principal topic at Parkhurst has been the King's Jubilee. A rumour went round the prison that the King was to grant some special concession to mark the occasion. The petition was discussed quite openly in the recreation hall during 'evening recreation,' and it was prepared there. Then I memorised it, sentence by sentence, in -the quietude of. my ccii. "It was obviously impossible to carry any signed petition from prison. It would have been a very . serious breach of prison discipline, and at this

I rime that is the last thing any prisoner is anxious to Commit. We have made a special point about* the ex-service-men. They fought in the King's armies during the war, and, although criminals, they are still loyal subjects of hi; i Majesty. Not one of the prisoners I expects to be freed, but they would be heartened and their families gladdened ■were some little ; concession announced." The petition contains the following passages:—"We humbly beseech your Majesty that this great and memorable day of May 6 next shall bring great happiness to every one of your loyal subjects throughout the world, and we appeal to you. to use your Royal Prerogative at granting clemency to the men concerned in the DartmoGr mutiny and to ex-servicemen, generally. We appeal for some mark of. Royal mercy for all convicts and prisoners throughout the country. Once we formed part of / that great and. glorious, army,, the British Expeditionary Force. We may have committed crimes; we may deserve our punishment, but no.one can take from us our pride that In the country's hour of peril we did not fail your Majesty."