Isaac Perry was the first to propose the plan of substituting a forged
will, but at the time neither of them contemplated the assassination of
the old gentleman. It was not until it became known to them that Mr.
Jenison intended to deed over a great part of his estate to David
before his own death that they saw the necessity for hastening the end.
The will was prepared in Perry's room at Richmond. The names of the
witnesses belonged to men who were dead and could not repudiate the
signatures. Then came the signing of the quitclaim deed which provided
an opportunity to substitute the will, and which, as far as Isaac Perry
was concerned, was a _bona fide_ transaction. The little plot of ground
was in truth a portion of his own compensation exacted in advance of
the murder.
Perry was to have done the shooting. At the last minute his nerve
failed him. Frank Jenison then coolly directed his henchman to stand
guard while he committed the diabolical deed. To use his dying words,
his father "was ready to die anyway, so it was a kindness to end life
suddenly for him."
We know how David walked into the trap, and how he crept out of it only
to become an outlaw, hunted and execrated. Perry went to Chicago, where
he was to remain for a few months before coming back to receive his
promised share of the money which Jenison was to realize on the sale of
certain properties as soon as he was clearly established as heir to the
estate.
Remorse began to gnaw at the heart of the murderer. He could not sleep
without dreaming of his slain father, nor could he spend a waking hour
that was free from thoughts of the innocent boy who would be hanged if
the law laid its hands upon him.
Then, one day, there came a stranger who told him of Isaac Perry's
treachery. The thing he feared had come to pass--Perry's defection. He
made up his mind to kill this dreaded stranger, and to follow that deed
with another of the same sort which would deliver him of Isaac Perry.
But the stranger disappeared. He did not come to claim his blood money.
The terror which fell upon Frank Jenison was overpowering. He sent for
Isaac Perry, hoping against hope that the stranger had lied and that
with the negro's support he could defy him. Perry came to Richmond,
expecting to receive his promised reward in coin of the realm. The
half-crazed white man accused him of treachery. The negro lawyer
vehemently denied every allegation, but, becoming alarmed by the
other's manner, fell into a panic of fear and began shooting.
At the end of his confession, Frank Jenison said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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