The following day, Oye made a proposition to Frost to take an axe and cut the lifeless body to pieces, so that the same could be sacked and thrown into Dog River. Frost declined to do this from suspicion of a great probability of detection in so doing. As yet, no disposition having been made of the remains, a young man by the name of William Cooper, the next evening, found the decomposing body with active and consuming hogs around it. On the bloody grounds of the murder a pistol rammer was found, which was inspected by detective Woulard. Oye hearing of this circumstance, ordered Frost to immediately take the pistol to which it belonged, and throw the same into Dog River without delay, which was done accordingly. In the confession of Frost, he further told where the pocket-book of Stanley could be found that had been taken away from him after death. Agreeable and true to his statement, the pocket-book was found, and contained a tooth, which on seeing by Mr. A. O’Donnell, was declared to belong to Mrs. Stanley—she having before shown the same to him. With it a piece of poetry, in the hand-writing of Stanley, was also found.”
The fact of Frost and Stanley boarding together at Oye’s house; the fact of the murdered body having been found; the fact of the sudden departure of Frost—before well-known to have been in want of both money and respectable clothing, and all at once, found with plenty, and then his falsehoods and failure to account for the same; and then the fact of his confession about the pocket-book having been proven to be perfectly correct; these circumstances, with others connected, all taken together, fasten guilt on Frost, and go far to establish the truth of the other part of his confessions in which Oye is represented as the principal actor of the whole.
Aware of all this when detective Woulard arrested Oye. He placed both under a vigilant guard for a short time to be controlled by Mr. A. F. Hooks. Immediately after the arrest was made, Mrs. Oye got an opportunity to speak to her husband, and was overheard to say something about a fuss, which in a few minutes followed by her using such language of obscenity and profanity against the guard which, perhaps, was never equalled from the lips of woman. During the disturbance, the intention was for Oye to get away, but the guard kept too sharp a lookout for the attempt to succeed.
The prisoners were conveyed as soon as practicable by detective Woulard, to St. Stevens, Alabama, where they had a preliminary trial, and evidence sufficiently adduced for committal. But all the while Mrs. Oye had been active. A writ of Habeas Corpus had been obtained from the Circuit Judge of the district, Mr. Elliott, requiring the prisoners forthwith to be brought before him for a further hearing. In conformity with the writ, the Sheriff of Washington county, E. L. Collins conveyed them to Mobile, and the evidence there produced was sufficiently strong for Judge Elliott to order them back to Washington county to there await the action of the circuit court.
When the case came up for trial, by motion of counsel, a change of venue was made: Oye’s case being removed to Baldwin county, and Frost’s to the county of Mobile. Owing to the great distance, with proportionate expenses, this change made it very inconvenient for witnesses to attend, by reason of which they were unable to be present in court, and the consequence was a discharge of Oye for want of evidence; but last reports say Frost still remains in Mobile jail—perhaps to be liberated also when convenience of time will justify: thus defeating the ends of justice and demonstrating the almost impossibility of convicting any belonging to the worst class of criminals.
Since the forgoing was prepared for the press, the following additional information has been received through a highly responsible source from New Orleans, La.:
MORE ABOUT FROST, “CALICO DICK’S” NEPHEW.
“Frost shortly after the murder of W. C. Stanley, in Alabama, made his appearance at Bay St. Louis, with two carpet bags filled with fine clothing and his pockets full of money. He displayed this ostentatiously, and spent it lavishly in the coffee houses. While splurging in this style, he was arrested and taken to Alabama, on the charge of murder. When he was discharged (to the amazement of everybody) he returned to the Bay, and by some means was made an assistant light-house keeper on Chandlier Island: How he got in this position would be well worth finding out. Recently the keeper sent him to New Orleans to draw his (the keeper’s) money. Frost drew it, and wrote to the keeper that he had deposited it with a certain firm in the city. On inquiry, such deposit had not been by him made, and he with the money disappeared some six weeks ago. He and his uncle are capable of any crime, but are cowards.”
August 13, 1874.