Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1901-02-07
a FIENDISH SCHEME.
PLANNED TO KILL HIS PARTNER AFT
Err HIS OWN DEATH.
Tho story of q Miners Quarrel and
How tho Victim That Was to BE
Narrowly Escaped Death Through
. Cunningly Devised Trap.


Narrowly Escaped Death Through
Cunninsly Devised Trap.
Speaking of vindictiveness," said
man who used to live in the west-no.
body, by the way, had said anything
about vindictiveness, but that made no
particular difference-''speaking Of vim
dictiveness," he went on. II think the
most remarkable case Of that kind ever
encountered happened down in the San
Juan country In 1880 or thereabouts at a
place called Chloride. 1t was mining
camp, OF course, and one of the best
properties in It was a claim owned Jointly
by a couple Of old prospectors named
Kelly and Shaw. They had been work
ing together for years and years, but you
never saw two people less alike, both in
appearance and disposition. Kelly was
rawbonsd. dark man, morose when he
was sober and quarrelsome when he was
drunk, while Shaw was a big, jovial,
freckle faced fellow, as simple minded as
o baby and as harmless as a rabbit. How
they managed to hit 1t off together for
such length Of time don't know, but l
suppose Shaw always knuckled under
when It came to an argument Moreover,
came to Chloride, and I've often noticed
that men will put up with a good deal
from one another as long as they have to
hustle hard for mutual bread and meat.
ut was prosperity that finally split this
couple. Soon after they drifted into
camp they had driven a tunnel into one
OF the foothills and struck big vein of
silver bearing carbonates. The stuff was
fnrfy, 1p cnn
but there was no smelter in Chloride then,
and the partners concluded to simply
close up the hole and wait the arrival OF
a railroad, which was being built across
the country anu winch would give them
transportation for their ore.
ut 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 1t started
I 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 big fellow strolled into
camp whistling and rented room at the
boarding house, declaring he would leave
Kelly alone in his glory until the railroad
got in. we can't do anything with the
mine until the cars are here he added,
and maybe by that time he will have
cooled of Bit
"But Kelly failed to COOL" continued
the story teller, "and, on the contrary, he
conceived q crazy idea that his old part
ner was scheming to beat him out Of his
share Of the claim. He brooded over that
fancy and drank bad San Juan whisky
until he became dangerous monomaniac
and ut last swore openly that he would
shoot Shaw II he ever set foot in range
of the door. 1t seemed certain to us
oil that there would be tragedy Of some
kind when the time came to begin work
on the mine, and l can't say that any
body was very sorry when word came
in one night that Kelly was down with
desperate case Of pneumonia. lie had
been lying there alone for several days
before his condition was known and
shouting In delirium when he was found.
The burden of his rawlings was Shaw and
the claim. He shan't have 1t" he yelled,
and when he died a couple of days later
those were the last words he uttered.
Shaw was terribly grieved. He had kept
out of the cabin for fear Of exciting the
sick 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
won't 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 SO Shaw hap
psned to notice a brier root pipe lying
on a shelf in the corner.
ut was fully charged with tobacco
that had never been lit, and near by were
two or three matches. why, here's my
old pipev he exclaimed. And I'll bet,
from the looks of it. that poor Kelly was
just going to take a smoke when he hrst
got sick. l guess I'll do 1t for him. he
added and proceeded to suit the action to
the word. l 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 q glow a sudden suspicion flashed
across my mind. Throw it away, Jlmg
l yelled Mt the top Of my voice, ana me-
chanicalIy he took 1t out of his mouth
and flung it through the window. AS 1t
struck the ground it exploded with re-
mort like a cannon. One Of the fragments
whizzed across the room and cut through
a heavy sheet iron stovepipe as II it was
made Of paper. Another was afterward
picked up in o gulch quarter OF a mile
away.
"What such little bowl could possi-
bly have contained to cause such ter
rifo explosion is, of course, pure conJec-
ture, but the chances are that Kelly
rammed In two or three what are called
giant powder detonators,' made of full
inmate of mercury, which is twice as
powerful as dynamite. At all events shaw
would certainly have been killed If he
had had the pipe In his mouth, and think
Of the diabolical ingenuity of the scheme
"a scheme, too, which must have occu.
pied the mans last conscious moments!
He evidently realized that he was gong
to die and knew that Shaw was just the
sort of big, lazy, easy going fellow VINO
would be apt to pick up ready hiled
pipe and proceed to smoke it. 1t was the
very trap In which he was most likely to
fall, and there was an uncouth subtlety
about the thing, coupled with an inhuman
tenacity of hatred, that makes my flesh
creep every time it recurs to my mind.
After that affair nothing could induce
Shaw to re-enter the cabin, and soon art.
erward he sold the claim and went east"
New Orleans Times Democrat.
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The Leoua rd's Keen Ear.