The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-04-03


called IL murder ia the second degree,
aud ho was here IN prison on sen.
tonco almost nevor-onding. Ho bad
been wronged. aud the knowledge OF
IL fred his heart aud brought the long.
expected outbreak. With sudden
cry which startled every one in the
noisy shop Big Tom made a spring
forward, seized the child in his arms,
aud thCro was shout of defiance on
his lips as he held her at arms length
and glarod about him. The mother
Of tho child gasped for breath aud
staggered back 70 the wall aud sunk
down. The father stood staring, as
If struck dumb, but presently held
out his hands in silent supplication.
Big Tom glowered and muttered in
reply. He was convict-a childless
father. He was dead to his child
she was dead to him. He could not
make another fathers heart ache and
throb and grieye as his did, but he
would secure revenge
After muttering he was silent. No
one cried out Guards and coDyicts
we're seemingly Supplied. There was
the hum Of machinery, but not OF
voices. Convicts turned from forge
and anvil and bench and lathe and
held their breath. The two shop
guards leaned forward in their chairs
and looked and looked, but they did
not move nor cry.
"What will he do with the child?"
The two men working at the trip
hammer with Big Tom had fallen
back. He had control Of the ma
chinery which worked il. The an
swer to the question could be read in
his eyes, Men had wronged him un-
der cover of the law He had been
deprived of liberty, degraded and dis
graced. Death we're more merciful
than such a sentence as his, and in,
dying he would secure revenge. A
piece Of iron had been left under the
hammer There was heard the sound
Of crash crash crash as the mass Of
iron rose and fell at regular intervals
that sound above the monotonous
hum of the machinery.
"He will thrust her under the ham
merw
So thought each guard and each
convict-so thought the father whose
feet seemed chained to the floor and
whose face was winter than the dead.
One Of the guards could have touche d
button and signaled the engineer to
shut of steam, but he did not move a
hand. Either guard had a fair mark
to shoot at, but their pistols we're not
lifted. Up and down-up and down
went the hammer, but suddenly the
belt was thrown over on the loose
pulley und the mass rested on the an
vii 1t seemed to those who looked
as if they had been looking through q
mist-such a mist as rises from earth
of a summer morning. 1t seemed tC
them that this mist thinned out
cleared away before the influence of 9
rising sun, and by and by they saw
the child nesting on Big Toms
breast, one hand smoothing his cheek
and seeming to come from long dis
tanc9 off they heard her childish
voice saying;
mo, you wouldn' hurt Nellie--yor
wouldn't hurt Nellie What make
you cry? Have you got little CIR
too? Won't they let you go home t.
see your little glrlF
And the convicts advanced stop b!
step-and the guards crept forward
and lol Big Toms tears we're falling
as he Rugged the child more tightly
and kissed her fair hair aud rosy
cheek. There was silence yet-silenc
as he walked to and fro and wept an(
sobbed and lifted the child till she
could clasp her tiny arms about his
| neck and rest her cheek against his
Not whisper among the convicts-
not a move from father or mother 0
tAe guards. BY and by Big Ton
| placed the child in its fathers arms
wiped the tears from his eyes on thu
sleeve of his striped jacket and with