orted in the _Morning
Leader_ of Friday, 14th August, 1896, is remarkable for its
extreme pertinence to the subject under consideration:

"Last month a man named David Thomas, who had for a short
time been employed by Lord Windsor as his estate carpenter, was
found shot dead in a lonely spot on the roadside near Fairwater, a
village not far from Cardiff. No trace of the murderer could be
found, and no motive has been supplied for the fell deed.

"David Thomas was, from all accounts, a quiet, peaceable fellow,
well liked by his intimates, and happy in his domestic relations.
He was a native of the little fishing village Aberaeron, in
Cardiganshire, but he had lived in Glamorganshire for some years,
and had married a respectable woman, a native of the Vale of
Glamorgan. A few months ago he received the appointment of
carpenter on Lord Windsor's estate. He then removed with his
family to live in the little village of St. Fagan's a few miles out of
Cardiff. He had hardly settled down there when the tragedy took
place. It happened on a Saturday night. He had given up work
early, and had come home to cut the grass in the little green in
front of his cottage, and to tidy up his new home. Early in the
afternoon he seems to have grown tired of the work and went
indoors. His wife asked him to take the children out for a stroll. He
made no reply, and his wife, busy in another part of the house, did
not pay much attention to his subsequent movements. She knows,
however, that he washed and went upstairs to put himself tidy, and
then went out--without the children.

"He seems to have met a friend on the road, and went for a walk
with him. They called at a public-house, and had a glass or two of
beer. Then, about ten o'clock, they parted. Thomas was quite
cheerful, and started for home at a brisk pace. He came presently
to a lonely part of the road. A wayfarer heard a pistol shot and a
scream, and presently met a man who was hurrying away from the
direction of the scream, and who wished him a gruff good-night.
Two hundred yards farther on the traveller saw in the dim night
the body of a man stretched out on the side of the road. He fetched
assistance: the body was that of David Thomas. He had been shot
about a hundred yards behind, but he had not been killed outright.
He had run in terror up the road, spouting blood as he went, and
leaving a ghastly trail behind him.

"But a weird story which is told in the _Western Mail_ of Car