The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1870-01-20
Terrible Tragedy in Boonsboro.


Ben Null, an honest, hard working
German farmer. living on Squaw creek
In this county, came into Bo"nsb"r" on
last Friday with load OF corn wh'ch
h ,lispos.d of at forty cents h,she'
He was hale aud hearty. in the iu'' Wig
or Of life, and scarcely forty years OF age.
Now. Ben Null, with having many ex-
celleut traits of character, with pel"s
0ood neiyhbor, and an honest, industr'-
GUS citizen, was occasionally aaa'c'e" 10
the vice of incompetence, ana his weak
ness in this direction being uhaers'"o"'
he was lured into one OF the infamous
dens which disgrace Boonsboro, rs well
"A every other city in this far lana,
where he took drink Of native wine'
the lawful beverage Of Iowa. soon
boon companions came in, ana inter
changing treats became the order OF '''e
,iay. The Glowing bowl passed round
and round, until, by aud by, poor i5eh
Null became full, drunk, tloored, oblIv-
ious. Helpless and unable to stand
from tarrying long at the wine, 1t Is
alleged that glasstul after g'assful was
poured down his throat through speech
Less aud unresisting lips. And scene
Of drunken hilarity, intermingled with
blasphemous oaths and smutty songs
and jokes, with an atmosphere pervaded
with fumes of smoke--a floor reeking
with sloppy filth-Death Knocked at
the door with his bony hand, entered,
laid his icy fingers on Null, and claimed
him rs his victim. Null was dead.
Staggering pail bearers removed his
inanimate form to the back room, where
hs was stretched upon the floor, his feet
elevated OH an old wooden pail, ana a
stick Of stove wood laid across his throat
to keep his jaws together. What
death! No wife. no children, no sor-
rowing friends with sympathetic tears
no prayer, no sacred song. no consoia-
lions in dying hour. Ben Null, al
noon, sober, alive, and in the full hush
OF manhood, at O'Clock r. NJ, stretched
out in filthy doggery, DEAD. surround
ed by those whose whose moral s'nsl-
bilities were all bluuted by the accursed
cup.
Hell and damnation,' ut,ers one, as
he presses the eye open with his thumb
and finger, and tliplantly slaps each
cheek Of the corpse with the other hand
'he amt dead by id sisht-see'
~. (, ,vatarr -
But he is dead, aud his spirit, conf
mencing its ascent from den OF drunk
enness and infamy, was already IN the
presence of the Awful Judge. Ben Null
died as the brute dieth.
But let lis go to his cabin home away
erk on the lairie.-There, stretched
~>on bed, sick aud nigh unto death,
4 the wife of Ben Null. Standing
around the couch of the poor, patient,
diving mother, are seven little ehl'areh'
the .Idest not yet thirteen. 4 messen-
rer arrives bearing the sad Intelligence
that he who had left her in the morning
IA vigorous manhood is now III the jaws
of death. She listens to the recital oil
Aha terrible circumstances attending his
Ae,nise. Her constitution, already shat
Aered BY disease, cannot withstand the
.hock. and within day or two the
brittle thread breaks, and her spirit
takes its upward flight. Behind are
~ seven little helpless orphans-fa'h-
,ri>ss aud motherIess-to be euiieled
.bout in this cold and heartiess world.
rwo deaths and seven orphans AND all
he work of the demon Alcohol. Ana
ct IN view Of such lesson as this' a'iu
he daily enactment Of every species o.
zine from one end Of this broad iahd
, "a other-all traceable to the ih'ef'
Il traffic in intoxicating liluors-meh
IN continue to oppose the interpos'1toh
the etronc arm OF the law. We may