Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-07-13
L Sailor Feigns Death-Re-
markabIe Effects.

AN extraordinary event tranSpired
here yesterday, which may appropri-
ately be considered as coming under
the heading that truth is stranger than
fiction. A short time ago a runaway
sailor put in an appearance on our
fashionable boulevards, and as became
a jolly tar he spent his money freely at
the grogShopS. He was a comical
genius, constantly playing practical
jokes ON his companions. He kept up
the spree as long as the money lasted,
and one day finding himself financially
ruined he told the boys he was going to
take long cruise to country where
sailors wouldn't want any money. No
attention was paid to this, as his boon
companion considered it joke Next
morning, however, he was discovered
dead in in his bed. The authorities
were notified, and from reports that
were in circulation about the man, had
him conveyed to hospital for exam
nation. 1t appears he stood all their
tests, at all events they pronounced
him dead, placed him in a pine coffin
and sent him off for burial on the
shoulders of four Kanakas. The Kan
akas got just beyond the city limits
with the supposed corpse, when the
sailor set up such a bowling and kick
ing inside the coffin that the natives let
the coffin fall instantly and ran for
their lives. They reached the hospital
and reported that the ghost of the sail
or had attacked them on the road and
that they threw the coffin away because
they were afraid of their lives. The
story astOnished everybody, but was
not at first believed. The authorities
having recovered from their consterna-
ton sent out a party to investigate the
affair. The coffin was found where
the Kanakas reported they had dropped
it, and apparently looked as when it
went from the hospital, with the eX-
ception of some bruises caused by the
fall. The coffin was then picked up,
being about the same heft as before,
and buried as originally intended. The
party returned to Papeete, reported
that the Kanakas must have been
drunk, and thus the affair ended for
the present. They were not intoXi
Gated, however, but terribly fright
ened.
A few days after the above occur
renee medical man from the hospital
was taking an evening. stroll. While
in deep meditation his attention was
suddenly attracted toward an object
which suddenly approached him. The
physician watched the shadow, as it
were, advancing, and was Mortified to
meet, face to face, the ghost of the
man he pronounced dead less than one
week previously. The ghost upbraid-
ed the doctor for cOnsigning him to
such fortunes as he endured while in
the coffin, and followed this up by
striking the physician such a severe
blow that he fell to the earth. The
sailor or his ghost then departed as
stealthlly as he came, while the doctor
lay upon the earth for some time in
state OF Inconsistencies. The latter
recovering slightly, wandered about in
state OF stupOr until meeting with |
some friends whose contact aroused |
him up. He then narrated what had |
happened and complained of feel
ing unwell, but insisted that he
had been nearly strangled to death |
by the ghost of the sailor. He took to |
his bed, which he never left until he I
went to his DEATH His mind became I
deranged, and he was constantly assert
ing that the ghost of the sailor was