Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-03-12

nent, and releasing herself from the
shroud she stepped to the ground and
passed ont of the vault, the door of
which was wide open. Down the
churchyard path she passed to the main
street, along which she walked for half
a mile, until she reached her late home.
Fortunately the large gate of the park
was unfastened, and she nastened up
the roadway to the dwelling. She rap
idly regained her health, and lived to a
good old age.
but VINO was the woman who stood
by the side of the coffin, when the corpse
suddenly arose and started her into sud
den flight?
The next day the lamp was found ex-
linguistic on the floor of the vault. 1t
was Unidentified as one which usually
stood IN the vestry, and was used by the
sexton. 1t had doubtless been removed
at the same time when the key of the
vault was taken. Beyond that all was
mystery.
The object of the woman, however,
was easily discovered. As already stat
&c, Mrs. Bell was buried with valua-
Die diamond ring on her finger. The
design of the woman was to steal this
from the supposed corpse. Finding it
impossible to remove it, the daring thief
had raised the hand of the dead woman
to her mouth, and in her attempt to
withdraw the ring with her teeth caus-
ed the pang which went through the
frame of the evident victim of a trance
and reused her to consciousness. On
the finger just below the ring, the mark
of teeth were discovered visible for sew
eral days after Mrs. Bells resuscitation.
Every effort was made to keep this
remarkable circumstance a secret from
the gossip Of the neighborhood; never
theless, every eXertion was used quietly
to ascertain who the robber of the tomb
was. The general impression was that
the garb of female was assumed as n
disguised that the depredator was in
reality man. and probably profess
slonal body-snatcher.
II was thought that the remarkable
circumstances attending Mrs. Bells sup
posed death had aroused the desire of
some medical expert to possess the body
for the purpose of an autopsy; that he
had employed person to steal it, and
that the body-snatcher, discovering the
valuable jewel, had resolved to gain
possession of it for himself.
Soon after this extraordinary occur
ance the vicar,of the parish resigned the
living and removed his family to Eng
land. Several years passed away. and
the incidents herein recorded were al
most forgotten. Mrs Bells father died,
and Mr. Bell and his family quilted Xii
mare and took up their residence at
Toxteth, near Liverpool.
And now for the sequel.
During the Chartist riots in 1870
James Binns was arrested for murder
and lodged in Lancaster jail. He was
tried, convicted and sentenced to he
hanged. Before the last sentence of the
law was executed he made confes-
sion of many crimes, and, among the
rest of his exploits rs a professional
body-snatcher, in which business he
had been engaged for many years. The
following facts are taken from his con-
fession.
In July, 1920, he was living in Bel
fast, having fled from England to es-
cape punishment for his offenses. He
had done several small jobs in Belfast
for doctors, and on the night of July 20,
in the year named, a well-known phys
ician of Belfast sent for him and told
him that he had a very delicate piece
of work for him to perform. A Mrs.
Bell, a lady of great beauty, and the
wife of a rich proprietor, had just died
of very peculiar disease, and the doc
r,,fn loo hoI
to investigate the cause of death. They
paid him so much money down, and
HIM to Kildare with such
as were necessary. He was
to secure the corpse, and a coach would
be ready at the churchyard gate in
which there would be two assistants who
would be ready to assist him at given
signal.
He went to Kilmare on the day of
the funeral, at which he was present. !
He examined the lock on the door of
the vault, and was satisfied that he
could easily remove it. At midnight
he went II the churchyard armed with !
q wrench, a pair of shears, and Il pick |
lock. First satisfying himself that the
coach was in waiting, he entered the |
and proceeded to the vault.
The night was dark and rain was fall |
ing. Creeping up to the side of the
church, he approached the tomb Of the
Bell family. To his surprise he saw
that the door was open and faint light |
burning inside. Stealthily drawing near
he glanced in. A second glance show
ed him that p woman was at work /
trying to remove ring from the finger
of the dead A sudden thought struck |
him, and slouching down, he reached |
in at the door with his shears, which he
had brought to rid the corpse of its