Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-01-12
INGENUITY OF A CONVICT
Wonderful Piece Of Mechanism
Turned Out OF n Board.

st. Louis Globe Democrat: A few
days after Charles Frye was sem. TO the
local jail he found a piece OF wood in
the yard and took it TO his cell. AT the
time he intended to whittle out a few
small trinkets, but decided TO make an
effort to white something of which he
would be proud. The board was Of
white pine, three feet six inches long,
twelve inches wide and two inches thick.
Frye is a ship carpenter by trade, and
understands the nature Of wood and what
can be done with it under The circum-
stances. He had no tools. and AZ he
possessed that would cut was a small
wooden handled knife. Knowing that
this woald not perform the task he had
set before him, he tore a steel shank from
an old shoe. wrapped q wooden handle
about ii, s~harpened it and began TO look
for something else. There was an old
WORKOUT mop in the jail, and from this
he cut a piece Of one quarter inch wire.
He put a handle TO it, wore 1t down TO
che thinness of a blade, and n few days
later he found the rib of an umbrella,
which he fixed in the same way.
RUDE INSTRUMENTS TO WORK WITH.
Being now fully prepared, he began the
task of turning out what he had pictured
i'm his mind. lie worked mostly at night,
and often remained al his work until 3
O'Clock in the morning. While at work
he Stunned the other prisoners and did
not let them know what was going on in
his cell until a few weeks ago, when he
emerged with the work OF ar: on which
he had spent all his tim and energies
for three months. Looking at the pro
duction as it hangs between two cells,
one can hardly believe that from The
small piece OF board only two inches
thick and three and II half feet long such
"A chain of connected links ard swiyels
could be wrought. II Is an endless chain
of 23f links, two pairs Of clasped hands
and six carvings which explain them
selves TO the observer.
ARTIsTIC FIGURES
The Liberty Bell, as true a representa-
ton as a picture, is four and a half inches
high and five and a haif inches across the
rim, and has the crack, lettering and
tongue and all else belonging TO tie be.
loved revolutionary relic. Fry has pic
tured ii as it stood at the Worlds fair in
New Orleans in 1884, when a new beam
had been given it and while it was gar
landed with q living wreath of green.
Instead Of the green leaves he has made
q chain Of wooden links which coil grace
fully around the bell and add a feature
TO the marvellous piece Of work.
The bell seems fastened to the beam
with wooden stirrups, but they
are part of the bell and beam,
and the screw, nuts and bolts are given
in perfect exactness to the original. The
beam is held 10 the chain by two hands
beautifully carved, and represent, as
Frye says, The north and south up
holding their united liberty" Above
this again are clasped hands similarly
carved, which, Frye says, lis the north
and south. and is meant as an emblem of
peace" All these carvings ere connected
10 the chain by swivels, u most difficult
piece of carving IN wood, even with the
latest improved machinery, but of these
the prisoner has made thirteen, and all of
them were made with the rib of an um-
breila.
REMARKABLE DISPLAY OF CARVING.
Following the chain from the south
side to the bell, the first carving met is a
br0nzed Gothic pillar, on which is carved
~In God We Trust" Next is q Chinese
tower. on the corners of which are four
pillars, and inside these pillars is a ball
of wood. too large to be taken out or put
in without breaking one OF the combining
pillars.
This is where | began the task" said
Frye, as he pointed TO a decorated block
on which are carved in raised letters,
blackcned at the top, Est. Louis Jail,
June A." each word and figure being on a
side.
The most amusing piece follows, and
is a square block, on one side of which is
q harp Of Erin. and in a corner the first
two notes Of Come Back to Erin" On
the other three sides are respectively an
an Irish flag, with a sunburst, a round
tower painted green and a spray of sham
rock.
Next in order and the best finished of
all the carvings. is a scroll headed The
Emancipation" and at the end of the
scroll are a pair of shackles, the rings of
which are broken, and as the carver says,
ASHNI Ih