PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE EARLY EUROPEAN IMMI
GRANT.
THE PARRICIDE: KILLS FATHER WITH AXE.
A Pole, thirty-two years of age, with a somewhat deformed foot, which
made him limp, a quiet inoffensive industrious fellow with a wife and two
quite young children, was working his place, with no help but that of his
wife. His father, a widower, lived a piece off across a valley. This man
was, as I have reason to know a selfish and savage old tyrant. At thirty-
two the son was as much afraid of him as when he was ten. Among
other tyrannical deeds which the son dared not resent was that he came
and took from his son's scanty belongings a two year old steer, and con-
verted it to his own use.
It was harvest time. The son worked all night stooking his crop by
the light of the moon. His father, a hale and lusty old man, was on a
visit, and slept comfortably all night. Very early in the morning, when
the son was yet in the field, his wife came to him, crying, and told him
that his father was catching the hens, putting them in a bag, and was
going to take them over to his own place. The son went to the house and
found it was as said. Standing in the yard he remonstrated with the
old man, who replied by slapping his son's face. The son, strange to say,
in his nervous scared and over-wrought condition said, "Slap me again
and the old man did so. And the son's eyes at this moment caught sight
of the axe which was lying close to him within reach. He picked up the
axe and struck his father on the head with it. He said he only remem-
bered striking his father once, but as the injuries showed, the son struck
his father twice, once with the butt and the other with the sharp, cutting
bit of the weapon. There was a small log granary there, empty with the
door open. The old man reeled into this building and fell dead. The axe
had cut through his hat, a wide grey soft one, and penetrated the brain.
As soon as the son realized what he had done remorse seized him. Bid-
ding his wife farewell this lame, exhausted man started to walk to White-
wood to give himself up to the police. The distance was twenty-four miles
and he had to descend and climb out of the precipitous Qu'Appelle Valley.
He made two miles an hour, and at half past five he reached Whitewood
and surrendered to that very able and humane police officer Sergeant
David Quinn, an old Enniskillen dragoon, who had seen active service in
the Soudan. The man was exhausted and Quinn took him into the Wood-
bine Hotel, and sat down with him to supper. The dining room was full;
everyone knew that this man had a few hours before slaughtered his own
father with an axe, yet no one showed any reluctance at eating with him
at the same table.
The assize trial was held in the old Agricultural Hall at Whitewood
before Mr. Justice Wetmore. There was a high dais or platform on which
the Judge sat. The witness gave evidence on his left hand, standing right
over the jury of five who were seated in the body of the building. I was
the foreman of the jury. Sergeant Quinn produced the axe and the hat of
the murdered man. It must be stated that it was not till twenty hours
after the killing that the police took possession of the body which they
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