The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1901-12-13

your hands, with the same knife. and
let this be done ere you reach mans
estate
by a mighty effort he raised him
self to a sitting position, and drawing
a knife from beneath his blanket.
placed 1t in my hands, saying, Remem-
Der, my son-remember. and with his
gaze fixed on my face, he sank slowly
backward and expired"
The young mans form trembed with
emotion for some minutes, but he soon
composed himself and continued: Il
shall be 81 years old in another month,
and still fathers wish is not accom-
plished. / am continually brooding
over my failure to carry out his com
mands; that makes me seem sullen
and morose at times"
AS night had fallen, we retraced our
steps down the mountain to my board
ing house. where Rem babe me an af-
fectionate good night at the door, and
then betook himself to the home of Mr.
Warren, who was, as l afterward
learned, intimately acquainted with
his fathers murderer, and who at the
death of Ren's father had taken Rem
as his adopted son.
After supper I returned to my room
to examine the results of my days
picture taking, which consisted of a
| dozen or more views of the town taken
at various attitudes with my flying
parachute camera. After looking over
two or three of the plates, grew
tired of the work and put the job off
until the following day, when would
have more time. then sauntered
forth for quiet stroll and smoke
before turning in for the night.
My walk led me in the direction of
the county jail, on reaching which I
was surprised to see the place sur
rounded by a large crowd of people.
| Upon inquiry learned that a murder
had been committed and that the vic
tim was Mr.. Warren, Rens adopted
father. One of the Jail officers told me
that Rem, after leaving me, proceeded
directly to his home and finding Mr..
Warren absent from his room, went to
the roof, thinking that the old man
might have gone there, as the night
was warm. He was Mortified to find
the lifeless body of his foster father,
who had been strangled to death.
Rushing to the street, he immediate
ly gave the alarm, but the assassin
had left no clew to his identity, and
must have had ample time to escape
between the time the murder was done
and the finding of the body by Rem.
The theory that seemed most plausi-
Bile was that the murderer had en-
tered for the purpose of robbing the
place, knowing that Rem was absent
and that the old man kept no servants,
but upon being surprised by Mr.. War
ren in his work of plumber, he had
strangled the old man to death and
then carried him to the roof intending
to throw him to the street below, and
thus give color to the opinion that the
old man had come to his death by ac-
cident. But evidently fearing that he
would be discovered in the act, he
abandoned the scheme, left the body on
the roof and made good his escape.
had but five days more to stay in
this town, so l set about packing my
trunk in order to be in time for the
express which would leave on the com
ing Thursday. Before taking my de-
parture invited Rem to my rooms to
spend an evening, which perhaps
would be the last in his company. Rem
accepted my invitation and promised
u be on hand early. On Wednesday
evening, .Ae evening designated, was
busy working on the photographs
which intended to turn over to Mrs.
Good and had completed my task with
the exception of one plate, which l was
working on.
l produced clear picture on the
plate, and no sooner had l gazed on
It's contents than feeling came over
me that will retain in my memory
to the longest day of my life.
Everything was too clear to me now.
On the afternoon that Mr.. Warren was
murdered, was up in the mountains
and had sent my parachute camera fly
ing through the air in the direction
of Mr.. Warren's house. 1t happened
along just at the time when the unfor-
tunate man was going to his death at
the hands of a murderer whom l had
photographed with his face upturned
to the eye of the camera, which was
passing directly above Mr.. Warren
roof The murderer in the picture was
just in the act of throwing the old