The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-08-05

dHu lOOhCu fdIHly lOI lHe Iduy VINO
was to give him the letter. He saw NO
lady with a letter, nor anyone who
appeared to recognize him. But he
did see two police officers, who pounced
upon him as If he was their property,
addressed him by a name that was no;
his, and told him that they wanted him.
They laughed at his surprise, derided
his explanations, and despised his pro.
tests, but dragged him to a station
house, where he was locked up in a cell
for the night.
In the morning he was taken to the
rogues' gallery, and was confronted
with his picture. There was no doubt
that it was his picture, although he
had never seen it before, and although
the name of another man was attached
to it.
Charles Clawson then discovered
that he was no longer himself; that he
had been metamorphosed into a per-
son of bad character, named Jack Fris-
bic, with several aliases; that he was
accused of having committed notable
burglary, coupled with attempted muir
der.
He was duly tried and convicted The
proof was complete, and the Identical
ton was perfect He could make no
defence, except by attempting to tell
an absurd and incredible story, to
which even the lawyer who had been
assigned to defend him quite sensi-
bly, refused to listen. He was SEN
fenced to 20 years at hard labor in
the penitentiary.
Before the trial was ended, Charles
Clawson had made up his mind con-
corning the manner in which he had
been victimized. He perceived that
his actual resemblance to another man
had been taken advantage of, with the
deliberate purpose Of compelling him
to suffer for the crime of the other
continue his career of depreciation. 1t
was terrible; it was devilish; but
there was no help for it.
That other man did continue his
criminal career, and was convicted I'M
der one of his aliases, and sent to the
state prison before Clawson had
served three years of his time.
1t is probable that the authorities
did not discover the mistake that had
been made; it is certain that there was
no attempt to correct it.
Clawson knew when the cause of his
calamity entered the prison. and knew
that he was assigned cell adjoining
his own. Was it Providence that
brought this thing about? If so, the
designs of Providence are indeed in
scrutable
At the prison the victim had earned
the art of working in stone, and he
reseNved to put this art in practice,
for~the sake of revenge upon the neigh
Dor whose double crime had sent him
there He worked upon the stones
that separated him from the adjoining
cell, until he succeeded in making
an opening through which little more
labor would enable him to pass. 1t
was a toilsome and tedious task, re-
quiring much labor and patience, much
skill and caution; but it was at last
sufficiently completed for the purpose.
That purpose was to enter the cell OF
his fellow prisoner at night, and muir
der him as he slept. He knew that
death would be the penalty of the
deed, but he would at least have his
revenge. Sa'--s1s4-"''-7S-a~'sssP'
When he was busy to put his pur.
pose into execution, he was induced to
change his plan by the discovery that
Frisbie, under the practice of com
munication for good conduct would
shortly be released. This gave him
new idea He saw a chance to secure
his liberty, as we'll as his revenge,
and he waited patiently. He had
learned patience in the prison, while
he was nursing his revenge.
The deed which he contemplated
was done coolly and deliberately. He
had not worked so long to spoil the
job at the last moment.
The night before Frisbie was to
leave the prison his victim entered his
cell and strangled him as he lay
asleep. Then he coolly changed clothes
with the corpse and dragged it into
his own cell. Twisting cord from the
sacking of his bed, he fastened it
around the neck of the dead man, and
hung him to a bar of the little window,
overturning a stool at his feet. He,
returned to Frisbie's cell, replacing the
stones as carefully as possible, lay
down on Frisbie's bed, and tried to
sleep, in which endeavor he had not
mucn success.
The next morning there was a COM
motion in that corridor caused by the