American Notes South Carolina

Elvis Presley could probably swing through parts of South Carolina in a flying saucer these days without anyone noticing. Everyone in the northwestern portion of the state is too busy trying to keep track of Doyle Arthur Cannon. In May, after getting word that his wife was leaving him for another man, Cannon fled in a dump truck from the minimum-security Oconee Law Enforcement Center near Salem, where he had been serving a 37-year sentence for killing a man in a knife fight. Since then, his narrow escapes from helicopters and police bloodhounds have become the stuff of folklore.

Local listeners are tuning in news programs for updates on Cannon's status, and DOYLE WAS HERE T shirts have popped up for sale. WMYI, a Greenville radio station, has been broadcasting a tongue-in-cheek musical tribute to the famous fugitive ("What would y'all do if I broke outa jail?"). Police are not amused. "I don't understand the logic," says Hugh Munn, a spokesman for the South Carolina law enforcement division. "He's not Davy Crockett."