“KING OF BOHEMIA”

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 September 1927, Page 8

“KING OF BOHEMIA”

END OF WILD ORGIES. In 1908 London was startled by a sensational taxi-cab murder. It followed the visit of a heartbroken wife to the office of Mr Harry Wilson one November afternoon. Mrs Irene Davy, a young and highly attractive woman, was the caller. She desired an application should be made to The Bow Street magistrate for the arrest of her husband on the ground of threats. Mr Wilson had acted for Mrs Davy since her marriage a few months before. She was taken across to the Court and the application was being made when suddenly the husband entered the Court and exclaimed “If there is going to be any trouble I am here to give myself up.’’ Mrs Davy was affected by his words. The couple adjourned to Mr Wilson’s office, where differences were adjusted. The next .evening all London was startled by the first .case of murder and suicide in a taxi-cab. The date was August 19, 1908, and the fatal shots were fired by the husband into the head of his wife. He then turned the weapon upon himself.

Behind the tragedy was an amazing story of a wasted fortune. It was also the climax of a marriage between a man of 22 and a woman of the world. Though she was not long past her twenty-first year, she had had a chequered life. William Bnrnand Davy, the dead man, came of a highly-respected Sheffield family. His grandfather was one of the old worthies of the steel city, and lived for many years at the Thatched House, a famous licensed landmark. The father, William Davy, was also a great favourite in Sheffield. His only child, the victim of a tragedy of wasted money and opportunity, was known as “Billy.’’ While apprenticed to a firm of engineers, he, unfortunately, became aware that at the age of 21. he would become entitled to a fortune of £12,000. On reaching his majority he came into the money, and, despite the advice of his mother (his father having died before this), he proceeded on a career of reckless extravagance. For a time he was in Worksop, Nottingham, and Sheffield, and his mad escapades caused him to be dubbed “The Young Millionaire.” In three months he dissipated £3OOO Captivated by a pretty woman he met casually at a music hall, he made her a present of a. diamond bracelet that cost £750. For a long time he was a flamiliar figure in Sheffield, driving about in a big yellow motor car and distributing money among a swarm of hangers-on. Not a heavy drinker himself, nothing pleased him better than to be surrounded by his fawningfriends who drank and ate at his expense.

Billiards and pool were his favourite recreations and he was a skilled player. But his chief charms were the theatre and music hall, and his supper parties for artists and others were a frequent topic of amazed comment. A favourite resort of his was Bridlington. For a season or two he hired the most expensive suite of rooms in the best hotel, and was known there as “The Nabob.” Coming down to London in the January of 1908, he entered upon the impossible task of reigning as the uncrowned King of Bohemia. His wardrobe taste, modelled upon the .eccentric Marques of Anglesea (who at death left 700 fancy vests in his wardrobe) cost him hundreds of pounds. A tall, slim man, with a cast in one eye, his ultra-fashionable appearance attracted much attention. He boasted he was tailored by the same firm that made the clothes of King Edward; and 250 fancy vests barely satisfied his fastidiousness. Dubbed now “The Piccadilly Swell,” he was never seen without costly rings and various scarf-pins. His fingers used to be covered with diamond rings. Sporting an eye-glass, he sometimes appeared in heliotrope flannels, and wore a gold bangle and brightly coloured socks, with patent leather shoes especially manufactured for him. During the mad career of folly he fell in love with a handsome woman named “Queenie” Kay. For her he conceived an infatuation very different from his flirtations with dozens of other women. “Queenie”. was young, but essentially a woman of the world. She was touched by his passion and attracted by the stories of his wealth, which she implicitly believed. The pair were married at tlie Strand Register Office, and for a time the life of gaiety continued. But his resources w'ere practically exhausted, and he had been maintaining himself by borrowing and pawning jewels. His trustees refused to let him have another penny. When the wife found how matters stood she was thunderstruck and left him. But she returned when he promised to seek employment. Mr Wilson tried hard to find employment for the “Piccadilly Swell,” and got him a post in an office. He remained there four days. Gaining a few hundred pounds on the reversion of a will he entered upon bis last phase of extravagance. Flitting from one hotel to another, he and his wife had many tiffs. At last, as stated, the wife consulted Mr Wilson. The day before the tragedy he met a Sheffield friend in London, and they went into a bar for some refreshment. Davy held up a two shilling piece in one hand and a revolver in the other, saying bitterly: ‘.‘l have this day failed to borrow a pound from two men to whom I hav.e given hundreds during the past months.” Obtaining five pounds from a better friend, he and his wife had dinner at a fashionable hptel. Afterwards, he entered a taxi cab. It had not proceeded far before the driver heard three shots. The woman was dead. Davy was dead before they took him to the Charing Cross Hospital.