The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1924-09-09
WAS FUGITIVE q YEARS
DID NOT MURDER MAN
TORTURED BY A HAUNTING
MEMORY OF MURDER" HE
THOUGHT HE COMMITTED.
WANDERER OVER THE EARTH
Alabama Authorities Find, However,
That Victim Recovered. Years of
Turmoil and Torture Have Left
Their Unnistakable Mark.

Oliver Cameron has been returned
to Birmingham, Alabama, from Port
land, Oregon, where an attempt at
suicide gave first intination of the
mental turmoil through which he has
passed in his efforts to forget what he
believed to be a murder committed
more than twenty-five years ago.
A wanderer over the earth more
than a score of years, Cameron has
faced almost unbelievable hardships in
his efforts to forget the crime he
thought he had committed. With the
haunting memory always with him, he
has been travelling steadily.
Never able to settle down in one
place for any length of time, he has
missed the JOY and happiness that
come from pleasant home life, There
is a touch of the pathetic in his story.
Always, he says, he wanted home of
his own, with wife and children.
His fondest memories are those of the
days when he was planning his flu
ture, before the time he is alleged to
have shot w. ]. Gay.
Walked Hundreds of Miles.
Leaving Birmingham in 1902 after
shooting Gay Cameron says, he walk
ed hundreds of miles in his efforts to
escape arrest. He joined the navy
travelling to the farthermost parts of
the earth, but always there was the
memory OF his deed to torture him.
After the navy service he became a
wanderer over the country.
Pursued relentlessly by the thoughts
of what he had done, he kept ever
moving. Illusions of authorities follow
ing were with him constantly and he
always was attempting to foil his inn
aginary pursuers. He used different
name in every town he entered and
made no effort to communicate with
friends for fear that he might be APP
pretended through the correspondence
At last, driven to desperation by
what had grown 70 be fanatic thinking
OF the subject, he threw himself into
river in Portland.
| He was rescued, however, and in a
moment of laxity after he had reach
ed the hospital confessed to the crime
he thought he had committed. Port
land authorities communicated with
the Birmingham sheriff's Office.
Man He Shot Receivers.
| And now the tragic part OF Cam
eron's story occurred. Gay the man
who he had shot, recovered from the
wound. Indictments on assault with
inten to murder and carrying conceal
ed weapons charges had been return
ed by the grand jury at the time OF
the shooting, but long since had been
stored away in the musty files OF the
sheriff's Office.
None of the present members OF the
sherif's force recalled the crime. A
long search was necessary to find the
indictments and after they had been
again brought to light considerable
difficulty was experienced in obtaining
money with which to return Cameron
to Birmingham.
Years of privation and mental tor
ture have left their mark on Cameron.
He is emaciated, his face wears a
drawn expression and his mentality
has begun to weaken under the con-
slant strain. He goes about the county
hail as a man in daze, not quite sure
why he's there. But his face wears a
peculiar expression of JOY and happi-
ness. for the burden that weighted his
soul has been lifted and his mind set
free from the torture of years.