Welsh Footballer Hanged

There have been a few deaths involving footballers over the decades, but one football player was hanged for murder shortly before World War One.  This man  was Edgar Lewis Binson.  Not an actual professional player, he did dream that one day his skills would be noticed by the local team, Cardiff City.  But an extreme fit of jealousy, left a young woman dead, and he standing on a trapdoor at Cardiff Prison.  Bindon had been courting the daughter of a sea captain, Maud Mulholland, but the relationship was basically doomed as her parents did not approve of him.  Maud was 20 and Bindon, 19.  She worked as a shop assistant, whilst Bindon was an insurance agent.  He spent much of his spare time playing for two local amateur football teams.  Maud ended their relationship and started to see a man named Bernard Campion, but this fizzled out but started again some time after.  Renewing her relationship with Campion was to lead to her death.

    On November 4th 1913, Bindon turned up at her home in Theobald Road, armed with a revolver.  Her father disarmed him but allowed him to speak to maud.  She told him that it was over.  He refused to accept it and went and bought another revolver from somebody he knew.  He wrote letters to his mother, which showed that Bindon `s state of mind.  November 9th, saw Maud and Campion go out for a walk, and at 10.00pm, Campion walked with her to his tram stop and she carried on home.  At 10.50pm, she ran into Bindon, who produced a revolver.  Witnesses say that Maud started to run and a man chased her, firing at her.  He hit her 5 to 6 times.  He made no attempt to flee, and when taken to a Police station, he fully admitted what he had done.  With an execution, he was sure to be reunited with her forever.  He was inevitably found guilty but the jury made a strong recommendation to mercy.  Bindon was not interested in appealing his sentence though his Solicitor made great efforts with the Home Secretary, on behalf of his client.

    On Wednesday 25th March 1914, Bindon was hanged at Cardiff prison, assisted by William Willis.  He reportedly walked onto the scaffold without any assistance or fear.