Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-19
A CLANKING CHAIN.
The instrument Of a Confess
sion of a Murderer.
THE LORD HAVE MERCY ON YOU
A GhostIy Visitor, the DisembodIed Spirit
of Juan Argo, Suicide, Forces Butchy
Baker to Flee to Life lmprison-
ment-A Convict's Curse

san FRASCIsCo CAL, Nov. 11.-Convict
''Butchy" Baker, under life sentence, was
to-day taken from the Marin county Jail in
San Rafael, to Folsom prison, where the
remainder of his days on earth Will be
spent. He occupied 4 cell in the san Rafael
jail simply as suspect" against whom, 1t
was feared, nothing could be proved. de
goes to Folsom prison the self-confessed
murderer of q fellow-convict in San QUEEN
tin, his own testimony alone supplying the
missing link in the chain of evidence, with
out which link he would inevitably have
escaped severer punishment than short
sentence for manSlaughter.
But, for certain most strange reason,
Convict Baker could not await in the San
Rafael jail the trial which would have sure
~ ended in conviction for manslaughter
only and q sentence not exceeding three
years. Owing to this certain most strange
reason, also, Convict Baker hailed his SEN
tence to Imprisonment for life rs a deliver
ance, and when he was taken from the San
Rafael jail to-day, he left hearty curse on
the place by way of farewell.
'rll never forget you'll cried the 'lifer,"
shaking his manacled hands at his cell, as
he was escorted out by q deputy sheriff.
My nights in that cell have been hell on
earth would not stay there month
longer if l could be acquitted of my crime
by doing sop
determination to be removed from San Ra-
fael jail at any cost, He has mad noctur-
nal cell-mate during his confinement there,
who would have wrecked the nerves of the
strongest of innocent men. As the mid
night visitor of man whose soul was al
ready shaken with the blood-guiltiness of
murder, Convict Bakers cell-mate was
more than the human mind could endure
and remain sane Folsom prison for life,
or lunatic ward for life, were the only
alternatives left Convict Baker, and he
chose the lesser evil.
Escape from the uneasy ghost of suicide
Juan Argo was what the self-convicted
murderer gained by his confession of muir
der and he welcomed that escape as the
greatest blessing that ever came to him,
even at such price as Imprisonment for
life
Haggard, wasted and with a face
''grayed," as only great horror can blanch
out the healthy color from a strong mans
skin, Baker left the San Rafael jail. He
leaves behind him story that defcs paral-
lei in the record of the supernatural, the
story of the spirit of fellOw-conviCt haunt
ing the sleepless pillow of a convict-mur-
derer.
One night, some months ago, in what is
known as the '.tank cell' in the San Rafael
jail, there was sudden termination to
criminal career. The termination in ques-
ton was the great and final one of death,
and it followed closely upon the heels of an
attempted escape. Juan Argo, 4 desperate.
serving a sentence for burglary, sawed
through the grated windows of his cell,
intending to drop down the wall to the out
side ground beneath at night and so, under
cover of the darkness, make his way to lib
erty. On the very afternoon preceding the
night when the attempt was to be made,
the condition of the iron grating was dis
covered by the guards.
Juan Argo was instantly transferred to
the tank cell" the strongest in the San
Rafael jail, and on that very night, when he
he'd expected to escape. the desperate man
hanged himself in his CHAINS. He was
found dead the next morning, his body
swimming to and fro, and his chains clank-
ing from the touch of the hastily opened
cell door
Convict ''Butchy' Baker was brought to
the San Rafael Jail shortly after this sui
eide. Transferred thither for the killing of
a fellow-convict at San Quentin. he was
assigned to the ''tank cell" as the safest
place for criminal known to be unusually
sa&ring and determined. The ghost of
suiSfsfesAHan Argc welcomed him to the cell.
About 1peteaock on the first night Con-
Wet Baker was aWsken from sleep by the
sudden crash Of q heavyweight dropped on
the concrete floor outside shS.- cell door.
Such a sound in jail in the eeads-efs night
means something far out of the, confnsG,
and the murderer in the tank cef' started
up quickly, expecting to hear either a shot
from the guard or an alarm, sounded to
arouse the entire Jail force. He heard, in
stead, "a lo# and stranSESg groan That
chilled MIN, for some tyson, Pike the piery-
iiseeIl, Then, in aanota>f moment, there3
bega 70 echo through tAe jail the steadyf
tramp of footsteps, passing and repassing
the tank sell'" from lfs darkness OF which