The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-14
4 TONBS ROMANCE.
C3fIylC Harris BetrOthed While Under
Sentence Of Death.

the Tombs prison.
4 GIRL who met him by chance one Sun
a.v in one Of the gloomy corridors fell in
1--we with him, visited him daily and
ford1v awaited the moment of his release.
when she expected that he would marry
her.
Her devotion to him was as great as his
uotber's. and she is believed to be the
~rounc woman dressed in deep mourn
mo, who accompanied Carlyle Harris
cousin. E. NJ Hill, alias Edward Morrell,
from New York to Albany and attended
the funeral of the executed criminal At
the Tombs the girl called herself Carrie
Homes That was not her real name.
Nina Van Zandts mad marriage to
Auoust Spies, one of the condemned
chicago anarchists, was not as peculiar as
SCarrie Jones' infatuatiOn for the con
demned wife murderer. Miss Van Zandt
was not promised in marriage to any man
when she fascinated the anarchist leader
and married him in his cell, beneath the
very shadow of the gallows Yet the girl
who offered herself in marriage to CARLYLE
Wentworth Harris deliberately broke an
engagement of marriage with a worthy
and estimable young man in order to be-
come the affianced bride of a man who
had been indicted for stealthily admins
tering poison to his school girl wife so
that she died. Her only excuse was that
In him she had found her affinity
THEIR FIRST MEETING.
As nearly as any one about the Tombs
can remember, the grewsome love affair
began some time early in December, 1891
Carrie Jones" had visited the gloomy
old prison with band of young women
and a few young men, who had vOlun-
teered to cheer the inmates by singing
hymns to the accompaniment of a small
organ.
Turkeys, when asked about the affair,
assured me that Carrie Jones' met Har
rs on the day the organ was moved into
the upper corridor" but Just when that
was they could not recollect with exact
ness. Nearly all the young women in the
group were anxious to meet Harris. He
was so interesting" his incarcerati ton
was so unjust" the accusation against
him so Incredible, and, above all, he was
so handsome.
II don't know the reason for it," said
the pTisOnkeeper who gave me the in
formation, but just as sure as a man is
locked up for wife murder he is certain to
have a lot of women dead in love with
him"
So it was with the young women who
held the service of song. They were all
deeply interested in Harris; they knew
hemust soon be proved innocent and they
could not understand the apathy of their
escorts, who presently drew away and
let them enjoy the accused mans com
pany undisturbed.
But Miss Jones" was apparently fasci-
mated by the handsome, plausible, soft
voiced young prisoner She fingered
longer than any of her companions, and
Harris protestations of innocence aroused
her to enthusiasm in his behalf. She re-
turned to the Tombs with the band of
hymn singers on the following Sunday.
Somehow, with the help of that diplom-
acy that only women understand, she
managed to enjoy ten minutes converse
ton with Harris alone.
Shrewd and clever as he was, it did not
take him long to discover that she was
infatuated with him. When she asked
whether he would see her il she called
some time before the next Sunday he
answered that he would be charmed to
receive her as best he could.
Miss Jones called on the condemned
wife polsOner next day. She no longer
wore the diamond set in a strip of gold
that marked her as the affianced bride of
another man. She had told her promised
husband Very plainly that she could never
marry him, because she loved another.
Her LOVE UNCHANGED.
Perhaps the strangest part of Carrie
Jones slange love for Harris was her
oilnd beliefin his innocence. She attended
nearly every day of his trial. She heard
most OF the evidence upon which twelve
uapreludlced iUrynen found their verdict
OF guilty OF murder in the first degree, vet
she only chung to Harris all the frmer.
When he was removed from the upper
ilef OF cells down to the condemned row.
ii the 1OmbS she began to call on him
every day
They talked in whispers for hours.
Whether she proposed marriage to him
or whether he, with unbouded faith in
nus good fortune, asked her to be his wife,
Is secret which rests now in her keeping
alone But it is certain that the pair be-
came engaged TO be married
mrs. harris frequently saw her son in
me counsel room" of the prison during
Warden Osborne's administration. Car
re Jones had, ana informed, the same
privilege occasionally. But when Warden
fdIon took charge of the city prison he
changed all that. Harris was never taken
10 the counsel room" except to consult
WIN his counsel. From this time the
lovers met in the corridor of CONDEMNED
row, where they were still happy in
each others company.
Ihose who have seen the girl scores of
uleS described her as of more than the
medium hight, slender form and medium
complexion. Her skin was not especially
yIark' but her hair, they say, was of raven
Olackness. Above the temples there
We're few strands of white among the
oLack locks, those premature marks of
age that occasionally fall upon the heads
OF young women. Her age was somewhere
between % and ~. She had apparently
enjoyed good surroundings all her life
one was intellectual without priggish-
ness, and her manners were refined and
charming. In the presence of Harris,
however, all reserve forsook her. She
seemed to forget all about the presence of
strangers.
THEIR MEETINGS.
I've seen them so rapt at times said
keeper to me yesterday, "that they
wouldn't talk for minutes at a time. He
would sit on little stool just inside his
Gpened cell door. She would kneel on one
knee outside the doorway, and there they
would rest their chins in their hands and
ueVou each other with their eyes for
eyer so long. Know they We're watched
VI course they did, but what did they
G:SdfeS They were in love with each other,
Il ever any two were in love"
Carrle Jones paid her last visit to Harris
ddiler Recorder Smyth had refused to grant
Jun a new trial. Prison discipline for
od9e MS seeing any stranger after that,
anu under the rules Miss Jones was a
Stranger. Up to the last moment she