Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1902-01-09


tried to think. For a time he was con-
scious of only pain and anguish, but
at last the darkness which hung like a
pail over his clouded intellect began
to clear away. The red spots had
come again. What they were, Green
had often tried to find out, but he
never could. The huge patches of lurid
red came and danced before his eyes.
After a time they left, but terrible
pains remained behind torturing him
almost beyond endurance. If he tried
to find out what the red spots were
they always came back so much the
quicker.
The convict crept nearer the wall of
the dungeon and laid first one burning
cheek and then the other against the
damp stones. The mental anguish of
the man became less wracking; peri
DDS of intellectual calm followed in
which detached sections of conscious
ness became clarified. Now and then
he caught blurred glimpses of the past.
A few faint, half-obscured recollec-
tions of his childhood days actually
made the miserable inmate of the cell
smile with delight. Names he no long.
er remembered, but familiar faces
wearing pleasant smiles so different
from the scowling visages which he
now saw every day seemed to bright.
en- up the cell. But finally one face,
smiling, coquettish, with dimpled
chin, and gracefully curving lips, re-
manned. Her he had worshiped
throughout his childhood and courted
in his youth. Like fash came the
memory of the joyous wedding trip,
the farm on the outskirts of Ne
braska village, his valiant struggle for
fortune.
Then the scene shifted to vast field
where withered corn rustled harshly
in the scorching breeze. There was
fiery globe in the center of the heavens
piercing shafts of which seemed to
burn his very blood. The crop was ru-
ined. That was sure. The quarter
section was mortgaged and in the cot
tage near the village his wife was
scowling at the prospect of poverty
and loss of social prestige. Already
she was bemoaning the monotony of
the western country. Once she had ac-
tually told him that he was brute
| and at the same time limited that DIR.
Scott was such a dashing, handsome
fellow. Then the red spots came for
the first time, Nothing ever was so
very clear after those horrid, carmine
tinted disks began to dance vindictive-
ly before his eyes.
One day, and this he remembered
with vivid distinctness, some men took
his away. He did not resist, because
they represented some vague, unde-
fined power which he had always re-
spected. Then followed a period OF
solitude in padded cell. The red spots
came with greater frequency now. A
gray-clad young fellow was always
watching him. One day he eluded his
keeper and made his escape. For a
whole night he wandered about. The
next day he hid in the timber near a
stream. That night he found himself
on the threshold of his cottage. He
opened the door. There was a scream
and an oath. DR.. Scott, the man he
hated, seized him. Green remembered
that his wife hid her face in terror
Then the red spots danced mockingly
For long time he was the center OF
a gaping crowd by day. AT night he
was chained in reeking cell. Harsh
Unconditional voices discussed the pro
lection of society and other topics
which he could not understand. Only
once did they say anything to him.
Then he comprehended clearly what
they meant. Had he killed Scott? Oh
course he had. And he was so glad OF
it that he laughed loud and long. The
spectators stared, Some of them
nudged each other. Finally the judge
began talking of some awful penalty
A sudden loathing seized him; he hated
all mankind. Springing to his feet he
defed the entire assembly and vowed
never to speak to anyone again. His
only fear was that this pledge might
some day be broken.
A key grated in the lock. The door
was flung open; food of subdued light
filled the cell. The convict pressed his
hands over his closed eyes and almost
screamed with pain. But no sount
came from his tightly compressed lips
In silence, he was partly led, partly
dragged to his own quarters at the ex
IRENE end of the line of steel cages.
Confusion reigned supreme tina
night within the prison walls. Shortly
before the guards were changed a
midnight, the deputy warden detected
dense cloud of smoke that seemed t.
be pouring up from the inner eel
house. Gaining admittance to TIT
prison yards he was almost strucl
dumb with amazement. Flames wer'
bursting from the roof of the building
AS he looked, the cupola, a mass of fire
fell outward upon the upper gallery
disclosing the fierce Roadway thu
flames were making. Even as he list
ened shrieks of terror and yells o
alarm came from the imprisoned con
victS in the cells.
Coolly he hurried to the prison gong
and gave the danger signal to tn
guards. Next he signaled the peniten
tiary fire corps. The warden now ar
rived on the scene, and took persona
command. At sign from him TIL
guards rushed forward and unlocked
the doors, allowing the frightened
half-clad convicts to escape into tn
prison yard where other scantily-at
tired employees stood with threatening
rifles ready for instant use.
In rider to save the penitentiary AM
The lives Of its inmates, the fire must b.
confined in the cell house, which com
municated with the remainder of tn