The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-12-28
A FIENDISH SCHEME.
PLANNED TO KILL HIS PARTNER AFT
Err HIS OWN DEATH.
The Story of IL Miners Quarrel and
How the Victim That Was TO lie
Narrowly Escaped Death Through
CunningIy Devised Trap.

CunningIy Devised Trap.
Speaking Of vindictiyencss." said a
man who used to live in The we>i-no-
body, by the way, had said anything
about vindictivenesS, but that made no
particular diHcrence-'speakiu@ of vim
dlctyeness,' he went on. II think the
most remarkable case of that Kind / ever
encountered happened down in the san
Juan country in 1850 or thereabouts at "a
place called Chloride. 1t was a mining
camp, Of course, and one of the best
properties in it was a claim owned jointly
by couple of old prospccturs named
Kelly and Shaw. They had been work
ing together for years and years, hut YOU
never saw two people less alike. both in
appearance and disposition. Kelly was
rawboned, dark man. morosc when he
was sober and quarrcsomc when he was
drunk, while Shaw was Il big. iovial.
freckle faced fellow, az simple minded as
baby and rs harmless as rabbit. How
they managed TO hit it off together for
such length of time don't know, hut |
suppose Shaw always knuclllcd under
when it came TO an argument. Moreover.
they had never had any luck before they
came to Chloride, and I've often noticed
that men will put up with good deal
from one another as long as they have TO
hustle hard for mutual bread and meat.
1T was prosperity that finally split this
couple. Soon after they drirtrd into
camp they had driven tunnel into ono
of the foothills and struck bir vein of
silver bearing carbonates. Tie stuff was
worth a fortune, rs anybody could SEQ.
but there was no smeltcr in Chlnri,lp them
and the partners concluded to simplv
close up the hole and wait the arrival of
a railroad, which was being built across
the country and which would give them
transportation for their ore.
1T was during that trying interval of
inaction. when they had wealth in sight.
but couldn't realize upon it. that their
final quarrel came up How it started
| don't know, but when Kelly made a
dive for his gun Shaw jumped out of the
window and left him in possession Of
their cabin. The biz fellow strollcd into
camp WhiStling and rented Il room Mt the
boarding house, declaring he would leave
Kelly alone in his glory until the railroad
got in. We cant do anything with the
mine until the cars are here he added,
'and maybe by that time he will have
cooled off a Bit
But Kelly failed to cool" continued
the story teller, "and, on the contrary. he
conceived crazy idea that his old part
ncr was schcmiug to beat him ont of his
share of the claim. He broodcd over that
fancy and drank bad San Juan whisky
until he became a dangerous monomaniac
and at last swore openly that he would
shoot Shaw if he ever set foot in range
of the door. II seemed certain to us
all that there would he a tragedy Of some
kind when the time came to begin work
on the mine. and can't say that any
body was very sorry when word came
in one nisht that Kelly was down with
a desperate case of pneumonia. lie had
been lying there alone for several days
before his condition was known and
shouting in dcirum when he was found.
The burden of his rawlings was Shaw and
the claim. Tie shan't have it, he yelled,
and when he died couple Of days later
those were the last words he uttered.
Shaw was terribly . eyed. He had kept
out of the cabin for ieur of exciting the
sicl; man, but hung around the door con
tinually and cried like baby when
we told him Kelly was dead. He had
never cherished any bitterness, and the
thought that his partner had passed
away believing he intended to wrong him
cut the kindly fellow to the heart. The
day following the funeral he decided he
would move back into the cabin and
went over to take possession and set
things to right Several of us joined
him there to lend hand in gathering up
the dead miners little personal effects.
and while we were doing 50 Shaw hap
pened to notice a bricr root pipe lying
on a shelf in the corner
1T was fully charged with tobacco
that had never been lit. and near by were
two or three matches. why. here's my
old pipep he exclaimed. And I'll bet,
from the looks of it, that poor Kelly was
just going to take a smoke when he first
got sick. guess I'll do it for him he
added and proceeded to suit the action to
the word ! don't know exactly why,
but it seemed to me that there was some
thing sinister about that dead mans pipe,
and while Shaw was pulling the tobacco
into Il glow sudden suspicion flashed
across my mind. Throw it away, Jim!
yelled at the top of my voice, and me-
chanically he took it out of his mouth
and flung it through the window. As it
struck the ground it exploded with re-
port like cannon. One of the fragments
whizzcd across the room and cut through
heavy sheet iron stoyepipe as if it was
made of paper. Another was afterward