The north Iowa times. [volume] (M'Gregor [i.e. McGregor], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1857-09-30
Hoosierdom,

| Hoosierdom. rf.raa
Hon. Oliver H. Smith Ex-U S. Senator fror
Indiana has been furnishing the Indianapoli
Journal with incidents and occurrences in tn
early settlement of the State, Wo give plac
to two Of his anecdotes-the first is entitled
CoNNERY OurDoNE.---The recen
mockery in the Dr., Burdell case at New
York, before Coroner Connery, which
filed the papers of that city, and a gap
ing public with the morning news, fol
two months, and ending in smoke
brings to my recollection case of eq ua
magnitude in early Indiana, except nc
Mrs. Cunningham nor Mr.. Eckel had
been suspected Of spiriting away the
immortal from the mortal part Of the
body, over which the inquest was held.
A man was found dead one cold morn.
ing, with his skull broken, lying in the
woods. He had been seen the nj ght be-
fore considerably intoxicated. The
body was frozen. An inquest was held
before noon Of tho same day, before
Coroner Clifford. The jury formed a
hollow square-the body in the centre.
Coroner Observation-Disclosures Of the
inquest, there are three things to be
considered when man commits suicide
by killing his neighbor. First, Did he
come to his death by inciaenceS Sec
ond, Did he come to his death by acci-
dencey Third, Did he come to his
death by the hands of the incendary9 2
Look at that body, gentlemen, and re-
turn your verdict The jury counsel
led nearly five minutes. eve. the
jury, find that the deceased came to his
death by incidence. having put too much
water in his whiskey, causing him to
freeze last night" ~
A TIGHT FIr.-In early times there
lived in Indiana man by the name of
George Boone. descendant of the eele-
brated Daniel Boone, who should not
be overlooked in these sketches, al
though l have not space to pay the
same respect to many others whom D
would be pleased to notice. George
Boone would have stood we'll in those
days when there were giants in the land.
He was near seven feet hi gh, with large
bones and muscles his hands were
large, but his feet were beyond anything
Of the kind I have ever seen in length,
breadth and depth. I can best give
some idea of them by relating an Incl
dent that George used to relate with a
gusto, after he became one of our State
Senators 81 was about eighteen years
of age, when, for the first lime, / took
it into my head to go a sparkling. One
Of my neighbors, a few miles of, had
very pretty daughter that I thought
would just suit me. 1t was late in the
fall, and the weather pretty cold still
it was too early to put on shoes. The
evening had come: !: l dress
found that the pantaloons reached only
just below my knee, and my coat stretch
ed over me as tight as dried eel skin on
a hoop pole. l started barefoot, wad-
ing the creeks and muddy bottoms till
l reached the house. They were about
sitting down to supper, and invited me.
Sally sat by my side. We had mush
and milk, and plenty of it. The old
lady handed me a large bowl. I thought
politeness required me to meet her, at
least half way, and stretched out my
hand to take it; but had made no cal
culation of the size of the table, the
space between the milk pitcher and the
bowl, nor the width OF my hand. I
struck the big milk pitcher on one side,
and out went the milk over the table
Sally jumped and went roaring with
laughter into the other room. The old
lady merely remarked cit will all rub
off when it gets dry" and the old gen
tleman said: "There had greater acci-
dents happened at sea-" But it was all
over with me. l saw that all was lost.
Net word more was spoken. saw
nothing more of Sally. The clock struck
ten. "Mr. Boone, won't you wash your
feet and 60 to bed ?" said the old lady.
.tYes man ''Here is an iron pot
all have suitable" / took the pot and
found it so small that could only get
my feet into it by sliding them in side
ways ); but l got them in, and soon
found them swelling tighter and tighter,
until the pain was so great that the sweat
rolled off my chin. The clock eleven.
"Mr. Boone, are you not done washing
your feet 90 "What did this pot cost?
l must break the internal thing" ."ao'.A
dollar" Bring me the AK "Here
it is." ] took the ak, broke the pot to
pieces, handed heoold lady the dollar,
opened the door, and never saw her af-
wards. l met Sally at husking several
years afterwards, and as We met she
roared out laughing. H1 .tE--
THE FIRST sTLONG-TAILED COAT.