THIEF'S WEIRD PROPHECY.

Western Star, 31 January 1922, Page 3

THIEF'S WEIRD PROPHECY.

HIS GRAVE BARE OF GRASS.

ALLOTED CENTURY NEAR END

A .weird old superstition concerning a grave in the parish churchyard! at Montgomery, Wales, is expected to have a. strange development short y. Exactly a hundred years .ago John Newton Davie=, a farm bailiff, was publicly '.haaiaed there for highway robbery. " With the rope around his neck on the scaffold, he declared/ that, in proof of his innocence, grass would not cover his gra.v© for a century. Hie supposed prophecy ha* been fulfilled. ' To-day, ,on the neglected grave there is still a barren, sterile strip in the form of a cross, though thick grass, grows .unhindered) all around ■. Past" and present sextons have stoutly denied that anything has evef •been done to keep 'the grave bare, and - .superstition holds that anyone trying to frustrate the' prophecy meets an unnatural ,end. Mr jJ. E. Tomlcy, C.8.E., the church-warden, who is a well-known solicitor and public iiman in Montgomeryshire, gave his .views on the matter ito a Dailv Chronicle representative.

• "I am "not a superstitious man," Mr Tomley said, "but there is certainly something urfcauny about the grave. lam 'sure that nothing is ■ever done to stop the grass which grows all, around overspreading the sterile strip. The .sexton would be afraid of his life to interfere with the grave. "There are too l many tragedies connected! with it. I myself would not for anything sow grass on it, nor •would I let any friend do so.

"These- facts I can 'vouch for:;— About 15 years ago a commercial traveller, hearing of the grave and its strange tale, carefully planted grass* seeds on it. A fortnight later lie met with a sudden dteath.

"Another man planted a rose tree on the head of the grave. The tree grew,' ,but the man was seized with

paralysis, and never recovered. Thera are other like stories, for which I cannot vouch. They may be—no doubt are—merely ' coineidtences but that won't remove the local belief."

Montgomery is" now waiting to see if the grass will spread over the grave, as the century has expired.

A fair area of wheat has been sown /throughout the? district. On M!rs S. Watson's farm at the Narrows may be seen fifteen acres of the cereal, and many have expressed the opinion that it is one of the best crops in the Western District.

. The great exiplorer, Sir Ernest Shaekleton, died aboard the Quest from heart disease on January sth. Messrs Powell and Wild, members of tho expedition, will continue the voyage south in accordance with Sir; 1&. ,Shackleton's wishes. ' I

Twcedio and Co. ta'ko this opportunity of thanking their liuniei'ons customers for their liberal support in the past, and bog to announce that o.wing to the fall in prices of fat stock, they are now rodtucing their prices, and the primest wether rniut-fi ton and beef will be sold at bed rock friceK for cash.—Advt. ' I