Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-03-16
Rip Van Wrinkle Discounted.
Free After Thirty Years COnfine-
ment-

I Free AltcT 4 ulEtI 1csaiS SONnne'
lnent.
The Columbus, Ohio, Dispatch ot
Friday says: JBmes Fraser, aged 70,
formerly citizen of Washington cOun.
ty, Ohio, was pardOned out of the pen
. itentiary to-day, by Gov. Hayes. The
! prisoner was convicted of having kill
ed his wife thirty years ago, and
thrown her into a well. He has al
ways denied the charge, and might, il
/ is believed, have received a pardon
years ago if he had admitted his guilt.
On account of his persistent denial OF
I the charge, the citizens of Marietta, be-
/ lieving him guilty, declined to move
| in "A manner that would secure pardon.
( But it has come at last. Thirty years
/ has this man stoutly cOntended that ne
| was innocent.
The facts, in a W ord, were: His wife
| LETT home MOnjiay, as he says, to visit
a brother-iu-laW VINO had a sick child.
and was not heard OF until the follow
ing Wednesday, when neighbOrs came
in and insisted that Mr.. Fraser should
look for her. She left an unweaned
baby in his care. He, up To that time,
had made no effort to find her. She
was found in the bottom of the well,
head downward, with her dress on
wrong side before. The theory is, that
the couple had trouble during the
night, i'll bed, and that he chOked her,
and unintentionally cut off her breath
ing. That he then, manlike, got her
dress on wrong and threw her in the
well. For the last 10 years Fraser has
been a sort of general marker about
the prison. He marked clothing,
marked prison doors, marked every
thing that needed marking about the
State shop. Mr.. Fraser is Scotch
Highlander by birth, and Presbyte-
rian by religious profession. He would
not wrong a man out of cent, on any
account. He has sOn-in-law in south
eastern Ohio VINO is a Methodist Epis-
cOpal clergymcn; another sOn-in-law in
w. Va, who is Common Pleas
Judge. Rev. q. W. Wakefield, OF
JOhnstOwn Circuit, Licking county,
came to the city to-day and received
the old veteran prisoner to conduct
him to his friends.
A few days ago a,visitor to the prison
from Champaign county, hearing the
history of Fraser, and liking his ap-
pearance, gave him S25. Fraser went
out of prison with $50 and two suits of
clothes, an OVercOat, and was well
pleased, considering his outfit and his
pardon glorious present. In all of
that 50 years there is but one black
mark in Mr.. Fraser's record, and that
was made for talking, early in his
prison history. He evidently viola
ted the rule unintentionally.
Pardon was issued upon the ground
that the State could not reap any ben
eft from further detainment, and his
friends having agreed to take care of
him, it was deemed best TO let the
prisoner go. His conviction was upon
circumstantial evidence, and his thirty
years denial still left thei matter in
doubt in some minds. He is of sound
mind and body, straight in form, six
feet high, and weighs one hundred and
sixty pounds. He has never seen a To-
comot1ve-except distant and OCCASION
al glimpses from upper windows of the
hospital or the old chapel.
He was, all the way up street, Won
dering like child about the telegraph
wires, the concrete pavement on High
street, the street cars, and the beauti-
fui iron fronts of some of the buildings.
These things had their birth in Column
bus and in Ohio after he was shut up
lit was supposed forever.
Mr.. Fraser was fOrty-fOur years of
age when he came to prison, and had
two or three children. He has dis
counted Rip Van Wrinkle by ten years,
but has the advantage OF Rip in being
able to read. By'reading the newspa-
pers, he was posted some about the
world, and had some knowledge from
pictures how new inventions looked.
But, in spite of all that, much of the
outside was new; was to him as it
would be to a child. The case of par
don has been discussed for fifteen
years, and eX-WaIden Burr says he
never saw man from Marietta who
did not believe Fraser was guilty.
Warden Innis and eX-Warden Burr
were kind in giving the foregoing
facts.
Mr.. Frascr'5 wife's sister was here to
see him three months ago, and said
that he had better be pardoned. His
words to all are: Before God and all
mankind, | am innocent, and | will
risk my eternal salvation ON that