Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1874-05-23


accused, tried, condemned and Sxscu
ted for the murder OF bis serving. man
an old beggar applied for aims to thi
people Of Aalsoe, the parish adjoiniDs
to Vellby Suspicious were aroused by
the exact likeness tho bepgar bore tc
Morten Burns of Ingvorstrup, who had
lately died, and also by the curious and
anxious inquiries the man made con.
cernin2 events long past. The pastor
OF Aalsoe, who had buried Morten
Burns, took the vagabond to his par.
s1nage, and there the fellow, all uncou-
scious Of the portentous nature of the
admission, acknowledged that he was
Niels B rna, the very man for whose
supposed murder the pastor had suffered
the shameful death of a criminal. Had
his brother Morten survived him it is
pretty certain the truth, concealed so
long, had never been known, as Niels
had only returned to the district in the
hope of profting by Mortens death,
the news of which had accidentally
reached him. He professed-and, in
deed, plainly experienced, the utmost
horror on hearing the dreadful history
OF the pastors cruel fate. It was all
Molten's doing, he said but he wa
80 overcome by the terrible narrative
that he could scarcely gather strength
to reply to the questions put to him.
The result of his examination and
confession may be summed up very
briefly. Morten had conceived a NOR
tai hatred of Soren Quist from the time
that he refused him his daughter, and
had determined on revenge. II was he
who compelled Niels TO take service
with the pastor, who he had spurred on
to the repeated off3nses, in the expecta.
ton that violence would result, owing
to the pastors hastv temper, and had
carefully nursed the feud which soon
arose between master and man. Niels
told him daily all that took place. On
leaving the garden on that fatal day, he
had run over to Ingvorstrup to acquaint
his brother with what had happened.
Morten shut him up in private room
that no one might see him. Shortly
after midnight, when the whole village
was asleep, the two brothers went to a
place where the roads cross each other,
and where few days previously o sui.
cile had been buried-a young man of
about Nitl's age and stature. In spite
Of Niels reluctance and remonstrance
they dug mp TIE CORPSE and took it into
Morten's house. Niels was made TO
strip and don a suit of Morten's, and
the corpse was clad, piece by piece, in
Niels' cast off clothes, even to the very
earring. Then Morten battered the
dead face with a spade, and hid it in a
sack until the next night, when they
carried it into the wood by Vellby par
sonage. Niels asked what all these pre-
parations meant. Morten told him to
mind his own business and to go and
fetch the parsons green dressing gown
and cap. This Niels refused to do,
whereupon Morten went and fetched
them himself. "Aud now," he said to
his brother, "you go your way. Here
is q purse with hundred dollars-make
for the frontier where no one knows
thee; ard pass thyself under another
name, and never set thy foot on Danish
soil again as thou wouldst answer it
with thy lifep Niels did as be was
commanded and parted from Morten
forever. H. had enlisted for soldier,
had suffered great hardships, had lost q
limb, and had returned to his native
pl ce n mere wreck.