The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1871-07-29
Tise Albaug gegister,
rhe Man wlsh ! Hole In His Head.

:
for not many years ago a man in Yer
mont actually did experience such mis-
hap as befell Obed, and yet he lived,
although without promising his head to
Possibly somebody may have
taken it, however
As Obed Murch sat sprawied out on
huge granite bowlder at the top of Pow
erty Ridge, his rock hammer in one hand
and his tamping iron in the other he
thought that Mooney Flat had never
looked SO repulsive. Obed could sec
across the hot waste of hill below him
the door of his humble cabin wide open
the white table-cloth cleaning within,
and Priscilla fitting to and fro. Obed
was a family man, and had married
Priscilla two years ago, when he was
getting out lumber at Puget Sound. And
as he lifted up his hammer to strike
few more blows on the tamping>iron, and
thought of the poor prospect before him,
he gave an awkward sideling blow with
his hammer-for there was tear In his
eye, and it bothered him. There was a
quick puff of smoke-a tearing shrek of
a small expiosion-and before Obed
Murch could wipe the tear from his eye,
he lay fat on his back with his heels in
the air, and clean hole cut from under
his chin to the top of his head, where
the slender tamping>iron had gone
through bone, muscle, brain, skull and
scalp.
t.Dead as mackerel"
This was the verdict of rough miner
who, coming down with his comrades
from the gulch above, saw the catastro
phe. And to all appearances Obed was
as near his grave as a man could well be,
So the miners, little subdued by this
untimely taklng-off of their neighbor,
shouldered him tenderly and carried him
down the hill, Hy Fender lettering along
in the rear, curiously regarding the fatal
tool in his hand, and wondering if a man
could live after a tamping-iron, twenty
two inches long and one-half of an inch
in diameter, had gone clean through his
head. ~
But Obed Murch was still alive. When
his wife Priscilla came to the door to
wave towel as signal to her husband
that his dinner was ready, and saw six
men bringing home her husband, with
one following behind like solitary
mourner, she knew exactly what had
happened, and turned back into the
house, showed the unneeded diuner-tabie
against the wall, made ready the neal
white bed in the corner for the wounded
man and when the sad procession had
crossed the dusty road and crowded in al
the narrow doorway, she asked: "Is he
badly hurt ?'
"Dead as maekerel."
Mooney fat is not favorable TO the
growth of sentiment; and Jotham Snow
man, the deliyerer of this verdict, was
unsentimental-and unmarried Pris
ella did not weep, nor moan, nor shrek
She helped to lay her husband gently on
his bed, and turning to the last speaker
she said: "NoH you, lothian, Jest you
get Squire Thornton's pony, and ride
over to Timbuctoo after DIR. Otis as quick
straight; and the Squire's yellow pony
Empire Ranch ridge as Priscilla sal
husbands -faee-iRspiTits Of champion
Th1s was all the poor woman could do
and the gossips, who gathered in TO sym
pathize with the mourner, curiously eyee
he round red hole in the top of the heae
but suggested no remedy nor othel
restorative. Obed lay motionless, bu
not quite breathless; and the silent groul
waited for the doctor-a mighty man o
physic, who had Brought many a hope
less case from deaths door before now.
1t was dark when DIR. Otis, after
long and exhausting attendance by til,
bedside of the supposed dying man, step
ped out into the cool evening air. Obed'
fate had been cansassed in every cabin o
the village; aud nothing but subim,
oIfidence In DR.. Otis s power to worl
miracles had prevented the populac
from sending out two of their number t
Dead Mans Gulch to dig grave. Thre
or four miners and axemen sat whittlin
on the logs as the doctor came out; an
Hy Fender asked "Well, now; has b
passed in his checks 2' The docto
smiled good-naturedly, and said: Il
would be no surprising thing if Obc
Mnrch would outliye you yet, Hiram"
"What-with hole IL his head !"
ssAye-With hole in his head fror
bottom to top, and clean through th
brain at that. You see, the iron wa
small and smooth; it parted the forms
tions of the brain. cut no large bloc
vessels, did not injure the cerebral Oh
gans, and left him only senseless. Ibe
Eeve he win recover"
nWell, boys" said lothian Snowman, g
guess NC wont dig that grave tonight
and some of you fellers had better la
round here tonight in case you're want
ed
That night Obed Murch squeezed hi
wife's hand when she whispered for bin
TO give sign if he recognized her voice
The next day he was fed with a wea
aR Sntn ~ 4