The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1870-11-04
MisGRIanROns Selections.
THE PASTOR OF VEILBY.
A True Story of Circumstantial evil
dence.

The most striking case Of circum-
stantial evidence, in which the testi-
mony against the accused was alto
gether fabricated by the accuser, is
one taken from the Danish records,
and which, from its impressiveness,
has been made the subject Of ro-
nance by both Danish and Ger
man writers. 1t is to one of these
that we are indebted for the follow
ing details, but we shall, as far as
possible, eliminate the romantic ele-
ments, and present the facts only to
the reader. The unhappy fate OF
the clergyman, Soren Qvist, is famil-
lar to his countrymen, though many
generations have passed away since
the untoward and deplorable events
which are about to be related.
Soren was the pastor of the little
village of Veilby, situated a few
miles from Grenaee, in the Jutland
peninsula. He was a man of excel
lent moral character, generous, hos
pitable, and dilligent in the perfor-
nance of his sacred duties; but he
was also a man of constitutionally
violent temper, which he lacked the
ability to restrain, and was conse-
quently subject at times to fierce
outbreaks of wrath, which were a
scourge to his household when they
occurred, and a humiliation to him
SELF Like most Danish clergyman
Of that day, he was tiller of the
soil, as well as a preacher of the
Word; and from the produce of his
tithes, and the cultivation of his
farm, realized a comfortable compe-
tence. He was a widower with two
daughter who kept
house for him, and a son holding an
officers commission in the army.
At Ingvorstrup, a village not far
from Veilby, dwelt a cattle-farmer,
one Morten Bruins, who, by means
but honest and honorable,
had acquired considerable property,
and who was in i'll repute as reck-
less self-seeker, and oppressor of the
poor. This man Morten thought
fit to pay court to the pastors daugh-
ter, but his suit was rejected by
both parent and child; and either
the refusal, or the manner oft, so
irritated the suitor that he swore
secretly to be revenged on both.
Some months later, when the
shortlived suit had been forgotten,
5he pastor, being in want Of a farm
engaged Neils Bruins, a
poor brother Of the rich Morten, the
discarded lover. Neilssoon showed
himself to be an utterly worthless
fellow, lazy, impudent, and over
bearing; and the result was a con-
slant recurrence of quarrels and mu-
5ual recriminations between him
md his master. Soren on more
han one occasion gave the fellow
,hrashing, which did not at all tend
10 improve the relations between
hem. These relations, however,
we're destined to come to a speedy
close. The pastor had set Niels to
iig piece of ground in the garden,
out on coming out he found him
lot digging, but leisurely resting on
lis spade and cracking nuts which
le had plucked, his work being left
lndone. The pastor scolded him
the man retorted that it was
10 business of his to dig in the gar
len; at which Soren struck him
,wice in the face, and the fellow,
throwing down the spade, retaliated
With a volley of abuse. ThereupOn
,he old man lost all self-control, and
'eizing the spade, he dealt the fel-
ow several blows with it. Niels
ell to the earth like one dead; but
when his master in great alarm rails
ID him up he broke away, leaped
through the hedge, and made off in
10 the neighboring wood. From
hat time he was seen no more, and
Ill inquiries after him proved vain.
The above was the pastors account
ofthe facts.
Ere long strange rumors began to
circulate in the neighborhood, and,
Is a matter of course, they reached
he pastors ears. Morten Bruins
vas known to have said that "he
would make the parson produce his
brother even if he had to dig him
1ut of the earth" Soren was in
,ensely panied at the calumny i'm
Dlied, and instituted at his own ex-
Dense a quiet search after the miss
ng mana search which failed alto
gether. Even before that failure
was known, Morten Bruins, in fulfil
nent of his threat, applied to the
district magistrate, taking with him
rs witnesses one Larson, a cottager,
and laborer's widow and daughter,
On the strength of whose testimony
he declared his suspicion that the
pastor had slain his brother. The
represented to him the
risk he ran in making so serious a
charge against the clergyman, and
advised him to weigh the matter
well before it was too late. But
Morten persisted in his design, and
the statements of the witnesses were
taken down. The widow Karsten
that on the very day when
Niels Bruins was said to have fed
from the parsonage she and her
daughter Else had passed by the
pastors garden about the hour OF
noon. When they were nearly in
front of the hedge which encloses ii
on the eastern side they heard some