abstract
| - Having dropped out of school in the ninth grade, James became a confidence man himself at the age of 19. A time came when James owed some men $6,000. He attempts to use the same confidence trick as his nemesis in order to obtain the money needed. Finally, Ford adopts the name of the man responsible for the death of his parents. He was persistent in tracking down the original Sawyer in order to have his vengeance, and to give him the letter he wrote as a child. Despite his vendetta against Sawyer, James has become the very man he has been hunting. (1x08) Sawyer later employed his earlier con on a woman named Jessica and her husband, David. James tried to swindle the couple out of $160,000 dollars. However, after looking into the eyes of his marks' son, Sawyer abruptly decides to call off the deal. He also had a relationship with Mary Jo, the woman who read out Hurley's lottery numbers. (1x08), (1x16) Sawyer would later take on a woman named Cassidy as an apprentice, but this was actually part of a con to steal a small fortune from her. He seemed genuinely fond of Cassidy, and for a while appeared reluctant to go through with the scam. However, his partner in the con forced his hand by threatening Cassidy's life. It is unclear whether he actually loved her or not, yet he stole the money anyway. In response to this betrayal, Cassidy gave Sawyer up to the authorities, and he received a prison sentence of approximately 7 years. About nine months into his sentence, he was visited by Cassidy, who claimed that she had given birth to a daughter named Clementine, and that Sawyer was the father. In betraying a fellow prisoner, Munson, Sawyer managed to bargain away the last six years of his sentence with the authorities by telling them where Munson had hidden stolen money. Sawyer was also given a "commission" for his part in the con, and asked for it to be placed in Clementine's name, in a way that she could never know who had given her the money. (2x13), (3x04) Along with a partner, Hibbs, Sawyer participated in the Tampa Job, which by accounts did not turn out well for him. Hibbs later approached Sawyer, saying he was trying to make up for his part in the botched job. He told Sawyer that the original Sawyer was in fact named Frank Duckett, and that he lived in Sydney, Australia. Blinded by his rage, Sawyer traveled to Australia in search of Duckett. While there, Sawyer visited a bar and met with Christian Shephard. Christian told Sawyer about the situation with his son (Jack) and encouraged him to finish the business he had intended to do. With this in mind, Sawyer finally met Duckett. However, after shooting him, he realized that Duckett was not the real Sawyer. Hibbs had once again tricked Sawyer, making him a common mercenary assassin sent to kill Duckett for previously offending Hibbs. Duckett revealed his innocence to Sawyer and made the ambiguous statement: "It'll come back around..." with his dying breaths. Reeling from the reality that he had murdered the wrong man, Sawyer ran. (1x16) Sawyer was later arrested for head butting the Australian Minister of Agriculture in a bar fight, and he was ordered to be deported back to America on Oceanic Flight 815, with the words that he could never return to Australia again. (1x23)
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